All Along the Watchtower
by space-cowboy656
Summary: An epilogue to the Cowboy Bebop series; Spike awakens from a coma as The Red Dragon Syndicate and its new unhinged leader hunts him and his comrades down. Action, corruption, light humor, a Spike and Faye romance, and even romance for Jet too. Fast-paced w/ heavy dialogue and plot.
1. Chapter 1

**ALL ALONG THE WATCHTOWER**

_"A hero is someone who understands the responsibility that comes with his freedom."- Bob Dylan _

He awoke in a cold sweat. Breathing rapidly Spike took in his surroundings: a white-walled hospital room, multi-colored tile floor, and the monitor that he was connected to. Spike dragged his numb legs off the bed and planted his feet to the floor. He fixed his hospital gown, took a breath and attempted to stand up but a sharp pain cut inside his abdomen. He held his stomach to try and control the excruciating pain and continued to walk forward. Spike walked a few inches and suddenly jolted back and fell on the floor; he looked up only to realize that he was handcuffed to the hospital bed. Spike groaned in displeasure. He sat on the tile floor for a minute and recalled the scene with Vicious.

"Julia is dead... let's finish it now."

"As you wish."

The sound of the gun blast and katana slicing ringed in Spike's head. Vicious' body lied there lifelessly, Spike didn't know if it felt right but he knew it had to be done; as the past had caught up with him, it concluded too. The last thing he remembered was collapsing on those huge red steps "Bang." echoed in his head. Spike looked out the hospital window; it was a calm night with a few dark clouds in the sky. The moon was particularly bright, almost like a spotlight. The stars made him think about the Bebop, perhaps it was up in space somewhere? Spike thought about the last moments he shared with Jet and Faye. The painful laughter that the two shared before he left and the loud gunshots Faye fired to keep him from leaving. In Spike's own warped sense of the word he felt guilty; he knew that Jet and Faye were most likely paying for his hospital bills with whatever small-fry bounties they could pick up. Faye and Jet probably had to deal with ISSP too. He shuddered at the thought of putting his comrades in that position, but overall he was just angry. Spike slowly stood up supporting his sore body on the hospital bed but the cold metallic handcuffs constrained him. He hated the idea of going to jail; the hideous orange jumpsuits, the senseless guys that liked to pick a fight (even though Spike knew he could take them on) and worst of all being behind cramped inside a small room for long periods of time. Spike was a feral cat; he can't stay put for long otherwise he'd go insane. Death was a more acceptable outcome than being locked up.

Spike searched the desk next to him to see if he could find something to unlock the handcuffs. He turned and stretched his long arm to the foot of the hospital bed. Spike felt around when he found his files in a manila folder. He grabbed the folder, saw photos of his gruesome injuries and read through the logs; the last entry date was of 2072. How long had he been sleeping? Spike slid a paperclip off the files, lengthened the paper clip out and stuck it in the micro-chip and jiggled it around. The handcuffs short-circuited, giving him a small shock, and it unlocked; he rubbed his irritated wrist and clenched his fist. Spike stretched with difficulty for a minute and then looked through the custodial closet. He found an old blue janitor's uniform and put it on even though it barely fit his long body. He headed toward the window and unlocked it. Spike grabbed onto a cold water pipe and began to slide down it but his body went numb and he fell off. He landed in the bushes which scuffed him up a bit; he stood up and groaned in pain. Spike pushed onward sneaking through the bushes and crawling under the windows so no one inside would see him and ran toward the freeway. Inside the hospital a red-headed nurse walked into Spike's room only to find that no one was in there. She gasped and dropped her clipboard when she realized that the patient was gone. The nurse ran to a guard that was clearly flirting with one of the other nurses.

"So, uh, what type of movies you like?'

"Oh uh I-"

"Guard! Guard! The patient in room 434 is missing!"

"Which one is that one again?"

"Spiegel!"

The guard put his hand on his head in dissatisfaction "Oh damn, they said this job was gonna be easy!" he whined.

Spike kept on running when he passed over a sensor between two trees. An alarm began blaring loudly, alerting everyone inside. "Shit!" said Spike. He was panting heavily as he ran onto the freeway. Each breath he labored sent agony through his ribs and chest and all the way into his shoulders. Spike was sweating profusely; he stopped to bend over and put his hands on his knees and catch his breath. Spike breathed in and out for a good while then a bright flash of light illuminated him. A space craft was speeding toward him; Spike jumped out of the way before it could impact him.

"Damn it! Why is everyone in such a hurry all the time?" said Spike. Spike stood up, dusted himself off and slipped through the concrete dividers of the two lanes and made his way onto the streets.

"I'm still on Tharsis…" said Spike. A fast whooshing sound passed over him that spread dust and litter in all directions; it was an ISSP space craft that was probably looking for him. Spike kept on running until he reached a worn down apartment complex in downtown. The neighborhood wasn't very safe and the apartment complex was made of brick, it was ancient, but to Spike it was a sanctuary. Spike knew someone that lived in the apartment, in suite C2. It had been years but Spike hoped that they were still there. Spike arrived to the wooden door that read " 2" and knocked softly. There was no answer so he knocked again and again and again until finally he heard multiple locks being turned. The door calmly creaked open and a baby-faced man poked his head out.

"Yeah?"

"Yo."

"Sp… Spike?"

"Hey Roy."

The man opened the old door completely and extended out his arm to greet Spike and they shook hands.

"I thought you were dead." said Roy

"It feels like I've died a million deaths." said Spike.

"So what's with the get-up they had a mix up at the laundry or something?" Roy chuckled.

"Something like that."

"Hmm. So what'd you need from me?"

"A place to stay the night."

"Yeah yeah man, get in here."

Roy let Spike into the apartment and locked the door behind him; it was battered and grubby, full of soot. The wallpaper was peeling off and there was hardly any furniture but plenty of nudie magazines, ammunition, alcohol, and cigarettes.

"Want some water or anything?" asked Roy. "Yeah water is fine." said Spike.

Roy walked into the kitchen while Spike looked around the living room. On the night stand was a framed photo of Anastasia, Roy's mother. Spike picked up the frame and gazed at it, painfully reminding him of Annie's death. Roy was a bit younger than Spike but a lot shorter and chubbier. At one point the two of them met while they were part of the Red Dragon. Roy entered the room with a glass of water and Spike put the picture frame back down. Roy handed Spike the glass and he chugged the water down.

"Thanks" said Spike.

"Hey, hey it's no problem."

"I really appreciate you letting me stay here."

"Oh c'mon I'd be an asshole to not let you in! It's chilly out there, the cold wind would have frozen ya. I'm just surprised that you remembered where I lived."

"You and me were good pals once, you know that Roy." said Spike with a smile.

"Yeah! Y'know I always felt like you n' me were kinda like brothers, since my mom said she thought of you like a son."

Roy stayed silent and stared at the floor, thinking.

"Have you seen your mother lately, Roy?" asked Spike.

"She died a few months ago." said Roy.

"I'm sorry."

"Eh that's okay, you don't gotta be sorry it wasn't your fault or anything."

Spike stayed silent.

"You know whose fault it was though? That piece of shit crime syndicate. ISSP came to my door telling me they killed her right there in her convenience store and that they had some sort of falling out and killed her for no good reason. I'm glad they kicked me out a long time ago."said Roy.

"They sort of kicked me out a long time ago too."said Spike

"Yeah? Well that's good Spike."

"That's why I faked my death, to get them off my back."

"Huh so that's why you 'died' all of a sudden… but hey they got their just desserts, the tower here in Tharsis got blown up pretty bad. I'm sure you heard about it was all over the news."

" Yeah… did they ever find out who did it?"

"They had a few suspects, but they didn't name any of them. If you ask me I could point out a bunch of guys that didn't like how things were runnin' it coulda been a lot of different guys at once."

"You don't think maybe one guy could've done that?"

"Hell no! There were too many guys dead for one guy to pull all of that off!"

"Yeah…"

"So what'd you do with yourself after you 'died'?"

"Well, I became a bounty hunter, partnered up with this other guy."

"Yeah? Well hey that must be pretty excitin'! I'm sure you reel in the dough with that line of work!"

"Ha, I wish. The money always goes to paying for damages or the bounty gets away. We never had food on the table, beef and bell peppers without any beef."

"Yeesh never mind, it sounds rough."

"Yeah well… at least there's never a boring moment." Spike continued "What'd you do after you left?" he asked.

"Ah, me? Well I got a couple of odd jobs here and there but nothing too fancy. Right now I'm working as a busboy, it's crap but at least I'm getting paid."

"Food on the table is always a good thing."

"So why did you need a place to stay the night?"

"I had business here in town… it's over now though but I couldn't get back home in time."

"All right then, I won't bother you too much about it. Wanna get some rest then pal?"

"Yeah, thanks again Roy."

"Hey like I said before it's not a problem. You can crash right there on the couch. Sorry if it's hard as brick though."

"I like it. I never liked soft beds."

"G'night Spike."

"Sweet dreams."

Roy turned off the lights and retreated to his room. Spike lied there, staring at the ceiling. He thought about Julia and her beautiful features: her red lips and golden silk hair. Her words "It's all just a dream" echoed through his head. Spike wondered if he was dreaming; that he was still lying lifelessly on the red steps and just before dying this was his dream. Julia was never coming back and Vicious was dead. All he had to look forward to, all of his duties were over what was the point in going on? Jet? Faye? Bounty hunting? Spike questioned whether or not these things had meaning to him. Spike didn't sleep at all that night, all he had done for months was sleep; he needed to handle whatever consequences were coming his way. "I'll handle it in the morning." he thought to himself.

* * *

It was dawn on the harbor; The Bebop's bones groaned fighting the sound of silence. No one was awake yet, Jet slept in his quarters next to his quaint bonsai trees and Faye slept in her room next to the television still on with buzzing static on the screen and the beta-max right next to it. There was less arguing between the two, without Spike there it felt empty. Faye and Jet just lived everyday as normal as possible: picking up bounty heads, putting food on the table, cleaning, Jet working on their space crafts, reading, watching the TV and so on. Between the two of them they had a small fortune for Spike's bills and in case he needed bail. Without him causing damages they actually got to keep some money. But Spike was still more than welcome back to the ship, even though none of them would say it. Jet's phone rang loudly, echoing throughout the halls of the Bebop. It woke him up almost like an alarm clock was set. Jet rubbed his bald head and grumbled. He answered the phone.

"Yeah Bob what is it?"

"Hey Jet it's about Spiegel."

"What about him?"

"Word from the hospital is that he's gone"

"Gone?! What do you mean gone?!"

"What else am I gonna mean, he's gone like the wind."

"Oh damn it Spike."

"Nurse said he unlocked his handcuffs with a paper clip, stole the janitor's uniform, and climbed out the window."

"A paper clip, huh?"

"Yeah then he set off an alarm outside, ISSP set it up in case he tried to get away."

"Yeah looks like they were right."

"ISSP is out looking for him as we speak, if they don't find him soon I guarantee you they're gonna put a bounty out on him. Your partner's in real trouble Jet."

"Oh what else is new… Got anything else Bob?"

"No that's it. I don't know if I can help you this time Jet; he's a suspect for a pretty big crime."

"Can you at least update me with new information as it comes?"

"I can update you with public info that's given out to bounty hunters… maybe you might wanna catch him yourself? I don't know."

"Well thanks Bob."

"Sure thing Jet."

Jet hung up the phone and set it down on his table. He stared at his bonsai trees; he had a worried expression on his face that quickly turned angry. Faye had been standing beside Jet's door, listening the whole time. She had a worried expression on her too; she didn't wanted Spike to get in any more trouble than he is already. "That damn lunkhead has gotten all of us in enough trouble." She thought to herself.

Jet called out from his room "You got anything to say Faye?" he said.

"What is there to say? The idiot decided to run and we have no clue where he is."

"Well he couldn't have gotten far."

"What if he passed out, laying in the middle of God knows where? We're never gonna find him."

"Don't say things like that Faye."

"It's only wishful thinking."

"You don't really mean that Faye."

"Whatever."

"Look, we gotta find him before he does something more stupid. Just go get ready."

Jet stood up and put on his ragged flight suit; Faye took a shower and changed into her regular skimpy attire. They both ate a quick breakfast and headed into the ship bay. Jet climbed aboard his Hammerhead and Faye on her Redtail and they set off into the blue. Jet called Faye on her radio.

"Okay Tharsis isn't too far we'll land there and ask around downtown to see if maybe anybody has seen him."

"Won't be too hard, he has pretty distinct features: a lanky lunkhead with green fuzzy hair."

Jet chuckled.

* * *

Spike stood up from the stiff couch; he was still sore but he was surprised that he wasn't in even more pain after lying on that couch all night. Spike stretched and waited for Roy to wake up so he can thank him once again and leave. Spike thought what he might do; hopefully find something other than a short janitor's outfit, maybe try and get in contact with Jet or Faye. Spike needed them to help find out a solution but he dreaded interacting with his comrades; he didn't know quite what to say to them or what they would say to him; probably whining and complaining like usual. Roy came out of his room and greeted Spike.

"Hey buddy how'd you sleep?"

"Fine. Listen Roy, thanks again I really gotta run though."

"No, no I get it. Hey if you need ever anything you know where to find me!"

Spike smiled "Thanks Roy." He said.

"Hopefully we can talk some more one day!" said Roy.

Spike let himself out and walked down the stairs of the apartment. People came up the stairs so Spike lowered the janitor's cap to cover his face, hardly containing his huge amount of hair. He calmly walked the streets with his hands stuffed in his pockets; he was starving but he craved a cigarette more than anything else. He thought about going into some seedy bar but had second thoughts when he thought that there might be bounty hunters in there so he hung around outside instead. Outside the bar Spike found an abandoned carton of cigarettes that he sneakily scooped up. He slumped against the wall and sat on the sidewalk desperately trying to find some way to light one the cigarettes. A homeless man walked up to Spike and left him a few woolongs. Confused, but grateful, Spike bought himself a hotdog from a food cart on the sidewalk. Two bounty hunters left the bar happily drunk; they stopped to stare at Spike for a minute. As Spike finished eating he turned to look at the two men and quickly turned away, trying to hide his face with the collar and cap.

Spike spent the whole day walking around the city; trying to keep a low profile. He kept trying to figure out ways to contact Jet or Faye. Spike was exhausted; he walked into an alley and leaned against a wall. He managed to light one of his cigarettes with a match he found on the floor by striking it against the wall. In the alley three men were walking toward Spike. He became cautious, clenched his fist and stood up straight. The three men approached him and stopped in front of him. Spike remained calm, his heart wasn't beating fast but his gaze was intense. One of the men threw a punch, narrowly missing Spike, and hit the wall and cried in pain. Spike ran out of the alley, knocking over a couple of garbage cans, and the other two men began chasing him on the streets. As Spike turned the corner of the sidewalk one of the men began shooting; it missed Spike but hit a car, shattering its window and startling the driver enough to make him speed off and crash into a street light. The men continued pursuing after him, as they turned the corner Spike kicked one of them directly in the face knocking him into the middle of the road. The last man pointed his gun, Spike quickly grabbed him by the wrist with one hand and drove his other hand up the man's elbow, breaking his arm. Spike slid the gun with his foot bringing toward him; he picked it up and heard a car revving up behind him. Spike pointed the gun at the car and fired. He hit the driver, making the car lose control, skid and violently roll over. The passenger opened the door, he was injured. He climbed out of the car and stumbled forward, Spike punched him right in the jaw. He picked the man up by his tie and pointed the heated hand gun at his forehead.

"Who are you? Who sent you?!" asked Spike.

"I'm just a pawn in an elaborate game my friend." said the injured man with a smirk.

"You guys aren't ISSP! Are you guys Red Dragon?!"

"You're table's getting the check Spike, better not skip out on it." The man succumbed to his injuries and breathed out his last. The sun was setting; Spike gazed intensely at the heavens, listening to the approaching police sirens. Spike fled the scene, running through filthy alleys and back ways. Spike stopped when it was night; he found an abandoned house so he made it home for a while.

In that time Spike practiced his Jeet Kune Do, his high kicks and punches, and meditated. He thought about Julia a lot; she was a haunting memory to him. He was filthy; his beard grew and his hair was a mess. Spike was miserable; he was dying in there and that's how he wanted it. Maybe he should have turned himself in after all.

* * *

**Author's Note:** I hope you guys enjoyed the beginning to the story! I won't be posting a lot of author's notes but I just wanted to iron out a few details:

1. This story won't be incredibly long, but not too short either. I'm trying to write this fiction almost as if it's movie that they put out.

2. I'm doing all I can to stay true to these well-written characters!

3. The pacing may seem a little fast but I do that to keep the flow going. I don't spend too much time on some things because I want to keep adding more to the plot.

4. If you have any constructive criticisms, I am open to hearing you out I'm always looking for ways to better myself and my writing!

5. If you see any missing words or words that seem out of place, please forgive me sometimes I don't notice these little blemishes. But I usually change them as I am constantly re-reading it.

6. I tried to tap deep into the the mythology of the Cowboy Bebop universe. I researched a lot and watched through the series; but if you see anything that doesn't compute with the universe, please tell me and I will be quick to change it.

7. The title is named after a Bob Dylan song (And Jimi Hendrix, I think it's really his song now), the lyrics don't have to do much with the story but I liked the way it sounded. Kind of like how all the sessions are music related.

Thank you for reading!

_**See you Space Cowboys and Cowgirls!**_


	2. Chapter 2

_"Treat you better than me 'cause that's the heavenly key  
To unlock the inner strength where my essence will be."- Jun Seba (Nujabes)_

Jet and Faye had spent weeks scouring the city for Spike, always coming up empty-handed. Jet was growing restless and considered giving up. In Faye's mind Spike was already dead; he died a long time ago that day he left the ship but she still helped Jet search because in her subconscious there was some ounce of hope that Spike would come back to ship and everything would go back to normal. It was night when Jet and Faye were sitting in the living room, sitting on the unappealing yellow furniture. Jet was on his computer and Faye was fresh out the shower, reading a fashion magazine and drying her hair with a white towel.

"Y'know if we find Spike we're gonna have to stay away from Mars for a while." said Jet.

"Why are we still bothering even looking for that ghost?" said Faye.

"C'mon Faye have a heart, maybe it's easier for women to abandon all hope, but men have to do what's right no matter how bad it may look."

"Yeah that's because men are all stubborn fools who think they always have to save the day, it's pitiful really."

"Maybe it's something deep down inside my gut but I know Spike would do the same for me."

"Yeah but you're not the one always coming back to the ship in bandages and broken bones."

"I've had my few moments of recklessness here and there, Spike never complained."

"Yeah you're so wild and risky as an uptight ex-cop." she said sarcastically.

"Oh so I guess the scar on my eye and my prosthetic arm means I never took any risks in life huh? It was all just smooth sailing for me?"

Faye had a repentant expression on her face and lowered the magazine "Look. I didn't mean in it like that." she said.

"I know I'm old I don't need some young broad telling me how I should or shouldn't handle myself."

Faye scowled and became angry "Yeah instead you tell everyone else how they should handle themselves and live their lives!" said Faye. She slammed the magazine down on the coffee table and stormed off. Jet sighed in annoyance and rubbed his bald head. Age was getting to him; Jet had always hoped that at this point in his life he would have a wife and maybe two kids. They would be living in a nice home, not a mansion (especially with his pay), but something modest. He wanted to live somewhere peaceful where he could sit around after work and trim his bonsai trees, watch his kids play, and have the calming presence of his wife next to him. That image seemed ideal to Jet because it was stable; the only thing he ever asked for out of life was stability. The next morning Jet set out to find Spike again, but without Faye this time.

* * *

Spike came out of his safe house; the sun-light blinded his eyes. The janitor's outfit was torn from the arms and the legs; the shoe laces of the boots were frayed. He was a walking nightmare. Spike cautiously walked through alleys and dirt lots; he tried to desperately to look for some real food. He arrived in the back alley of a restaurant and noticed that a cook was throwing out leftovers in the dumpster. Spike hid behind a garbage can and waited for the cook to leave. He ran and jumped inside the dumpster, he had little shame. Spike jumped out of the dumpster and dusted himself off. He noticed that the TV inside the restaurant was playing the news, Spike took a listen.

The news song played "Good afternoon, this is CBC Action News" said the anchor. "First, breaking news today in Mars. A local man was murdered today, ISSP says it is connected to the recent height in violence that has been impacting the area." The network displayed a picture of Roy. Spike was in shock, his mouth agape. "He was found dead in his apartment, detectives say that the suspect broke into the apartment and brutally tortured the victim and left him for dead. The man was twenty-four years old." said the anchor. Spike clenched his fist in anger and guilt. The anchor continued "ISSP says it's an ongoing investigation, it is part of their crackdown on crime trying to st-" The sound of the TV faded out as Spike decided to take immediate action before Faye and Jet met the same fates. He left the alley and tried to look for somewhere secluded where he could contact Jet.

Spike reached a planetarium that resided on a hill; there was only a nerdy-looking kid on his computer inside. Spike wanted to approach him to see if he could use the machine to contact Jet. As Spike got closer the kid glanced at him and realized who he was. "Hey you're Spike Spie-" he exclaimed. Spike covered his mouth before he could finish his sentence. He looked around to see if had aroused any suspicion but there was no one in sight.

"How do you know my name?" asked Spike.

The kid gasped for air "You're all over the internet! They say that you and some other guys were the one behind that tower attack, mainly conspiracies and underground websites, nothing that the ISSP is willing to share to the public. Jerks." he said.

Spike grabbed the kid by the shirt and lifted his computer "Hey what are you doing?! I don't want any trouble man!" said the kid.

"Here kid I need you to contact someone's ship with this thing. And make sure no one can trace it or listen in." said Spike.

"Well do you know what frequency num-"

"Just look through a MONO transport database and type in the name Jet Black."

The kid typed in the name and was able to pull up the information from a secured database and set up a real-time link through a filter program to call Jet's ship and pushed send.

"Aaaand there." said the kid. Spike pushed him out of the way and said "Thanks kid." "Hey!" said the kid. Spike waited and hoped with ever inch in his fiber that Jet would answer. Jet finally picked up.

"Yeah who is this?" said Jet.

"Jet…" said Spike.

"Spike?! Is that you?!"

"Yeah it's me."

"Where have you been dumb ass do you how many days I've been looking for you?!"

"I'm inside the Tharsis planetarium Jet, I need you to come pick me up."

"Look Spike you're in deep and I nee-"

"Talk to me about it when you get here."

"Wait Spi-" Spike hung up before Jet could finish. Spike handed the computer back to kid. He then stared him down. "I was never here. You got that kid?" said Spike. "Ye-yes sir." he said nervously.

* * *

Jet turned his Hammerhead around to go to the planetarium. Jet was a little bit nervous, he didn't know whether to show Spike that he was glad or show him some tough love or even no love. Knowing Spike and Faye the three of them would just end up barking at each other, pointless arguing that didn't get them anywhere. Jet was always worrying about what was going to become of this whole situation; how's it going to end? Faye called in.

"Jet where are you?" she asked.

"Listen Faye I need you to head to Ceraunius Fossae, it's an old town North of Tharsis. Stay at the gas station at the entrance of the town. I'll meet you there."

"Wait Jet why do you need me to go over there?"

"Just do it." said Jet.

"Wait before you hang up, I wanted to say that I'm sorry about yesterday."

"It's okay Faye, just get to Fossae." said Jet. He hung up.

* * *

Faye set off in her Redtail. It took her a while but she arrived to Ceraunius Fossae, a dusty ghost town that had maybe one radio tower. She opened her carton of cigarettes, pursed her lip around one of the cigarettes and pulled it out. She smoked about two and half cigarettes and became increasingly bored waiting for Jet. She puffed out smoke with a scowl.

"Well where is he?!" she whined. She waited awhile longer and then she heard a call coming from inside the Redtail. She climbed inside to answer it but out of the corner of her eye she saw a car speeding up, throwing around dust everywhere, toward her zip craft. The car burnt out, creating a huge cloud of dust, screeching it's brakes and came to a stop. Two men in leisure suits and sunglasses came out of the car and pointed their guns at Faye. She slouched, put her hands in the air and nervously smiled "How can I help you boys?" she said. One of the men said "I need you to come with us miss."

"For what?"

"Get in the car."

"Are you two with ISSP?"

"Something like that, now get in the car."

"No way! Where are your badges?"

The man cocked his gun, Faye quickly ducked behind her Redtail and the man shot at her, but it missed and ricocheted off the Redtail. Both of the men ran toward the space craft when it automatically flew forward and up, impacting both of the men and knocking them unconscious.

* * *

Spike exited through the back door of the planetarium and waited by the garden for Jet to arrive. It became silent; Spike was growing impatient. He looked across to another hill when a red laser illuminated in his eyes. It was a sniper. Spike quickly ducked down behind a concrete wall as the rifle fired. A few more shots rang out; Spike covered his head with his hands and lay completely flat. On the other hill the sniper stood up; he was there with two other men who were smoking by their car. "C'mon let's head over there, the guy's ducking down." said the sniper. All three men got in their car and drove off. Spike poked his out and didn't see the laser any more so he made a run for it. As Spike reached the bottom of the hill, the car approached him, he took out his hand gun and fired it a few times; a burst of wind came, blowing around debris everywhere he looked up and saw Jet's Hammerhead. "Spike watch out!" said Jet. Jet shot his tow cable at the car; it tried to speed up but the hook was stuck in there tight. The Hammerhead turned downward 90 degrees and flew upward, taking the car with it; the men inside the car jumped mid-air and landed harshly on the street. Jet unhooked the car and let it drop; he lowered his space craft.

"What took you so long Jet?!" said Spike

"Sorry I got lost buddy." said Jet with a smile. Spike took Jet's hand and climbed onto the Hammerhead. They flew off to go meet Faye; it was cramped in there but Spike was glad to finally be off the streets.

"… It's good to see you Jet."

"Yeah you too Spike-o." said Jet.

"Those guys… they were Red Dragon. I know it."

"How did they know where to find you?"

"I don't know." said Spike. He continued "What's the plan here Jet?"

"I don't suppose you wanna turn yourself in." said Jet.

Spike stayed silent. Jet resumed "You know for the past few months we've been payin' your bills, taking care of your Swordfish, dealing with ISSP. It's all a big mess."

"I never asked you two to care of it. I was supposed to leave and never come back, you know that Jet." said Spike angrily.

"We've always had to deal with you every time you came to the ship a bloodied mess, what's different about this time? Every time you left the damn ship you never expected to come back!" said Jet.

Spike sighed "Where's Faye?" he said.

"We're meeting her in Ceraunius Fossae."

"Fossae? That dirt town?"

"Most of Mars is dirt. Anyway it's out of the way; we need to keep a low profile Spike. No more stunts like what we just flew away from."

"I can't promise you that Jet. These guys are awfully persistent."

"Fine we'll meet up with Faye and head back to the ship, we'll try to figure a way out of this mess."

"Fine. Maybe I can get some actual food in me."

"I'm going to call Faye to see if she's still holding up." said Jet. He called Faye but there was no answer.

"Huh? I wonder why she didn't answer." said Jet. The Hammerhead carried on, heading toward Fossae. As they neared the location where Faye was waiting her ship came zooming out of a huge dust cloud.

"Huh? Is that her?" asked Spike.

"I think so but I don't see anyone in there." said Jet.

Their confused expression quickly turned to shock as the Redtail headed straight toward them. Jet steered his Hammerhead away from Faye's space craft but it scraped the bottom of the Hammerhead. Jet landed near the gas station, not being able to see anything because of all the dust that was masking the air. Spike and Jet jumped out of the Hammerhead and took out their guns. Jet called out for Faye "Faye? Where are you?" he said. Spike and Jet got lost in the dust when Faye pointed her gun at Spike's back. "Drop it!" she said. Spike raised his hands in the air with his eyebrow raised and a smirk on his face.

"Wait Faye!" said Jet.

"Yes my dear?" said Spike.

Faye's jaw dropped and she slowly lowered her weapon. "That voice… Spike?" she asked.

The dust settled as Spike put his hands down and turned to face her "In the living flesh." he said. Faye contained her excitement; her expression quickly changed to disgust as she covered her nose. "That stench! Spike you need a shower!" she said. Spike smiled in amusement "It's really good to see you too Faye." he said. Jet put his hands on his hips and chuckled.


	3. Chapter 3

Inside of a dimly lit warehouse, the Red Dragon Crime Syndicate had been trying to start over and recreate itself. A lot of men had either been arrested or left after Vicious' death but there was still a large amount of men that worked for their new leader, Lee. Lee was a tall and tan middle-aged man with slicked- back black hair; his shoulders were broad and he wore an all-black casual suit. His eyes were dead and his demeanor was cold. The members gossiped that the man was sadistic and had fits of rage; but in a second he could be calmer than a Zen garden. He would spend a lot of time in his office; he sat on a steel chair and had a make-shift desk out of wooden box crates. It was much less glamorous than the tower, but Lee saw it as an opportunity to tie all loose ends and get some actual work done. One of his men approached him and whispered in his ear. Lee stood up and gathered his main enforcers to discuss their current issues.

"Spiegel keeps getting away from us! I don't how the guy does it, he's as slippery as a damn snake." said one man.

"My guys keep ending up empty-handed, they're too afraid to tell me." said another.

Lee remained silent listening to the ongoing list of complaints from his enforcers and even when they started barking at each other. He cleared his throat very quietly, and the room turned silent.

"I… trust all of you. There is indeed a reason why I choose you to be my high level enforcers, you don't quit when it gets difficult. But right now I want you all to take a break from Spike Spiegel and his companions for a while. I'll get some our officers to pester the poor bug in the meantime. I want all of your energies to be focused on trafficking red-eye, the Syndicate needs stability first and foremost. Meditating on bloodlust can waste money." said Lee.

One man interjected "Why don't we just let ISSP handle it? Put him in jail, and kill him in there?" he asked.

Lee had a cold look in his eyes "As Red Dragon we deal with traitors ourselves. If we were to allow ISSP to arrest him now, paying off officers would be a waste of the money we already spent. We continue on with the plan, Spiegel and his friends will die. If ISSP puts him in jail we won't be able to get to him, it's too heavily secured. We need him out in the open." he said.

"What if some gung-ho officer who actually does his job finds him?" asked one man. All the men in the room chuckled.

"Not to worry we have our men on the inside that'll stop that. Spiegel and all of us are off limits as of right now and I intend to keep it that way." said Lee.

"Speaking of men on the inside, Dodge has a surprise for us."

"What is it?" asked Lee.

"That new guy, Ken, he was a cop. We found him collecting and sending information on us. He's in the trunk right now."

All of the men went to the back of the warehouse where Dodge was smoking by his car. Dodge was Lee's right hand man; he was a pale and slim young man with blonde hair. He was very narcissistic but he didn't hesitate to get the job done.

"Hey ladies, check out what poppa dragged in." said Dodge. He lifted up the trunk door and inside was a cop; he was beaten, blindfolded, muzzled, and handcuffed. All of the men laughed and dragged the cop out of the trunk while he screamed for dear life. They brought him inside the warehouse and took off the muzzle.

"Pl-please, please, please God no! PLEASE!" the cop pleaded.

One of the men commented "The little guy pissed himself, no wonder he stinks! Hey Dodge you're gonna have to clean your car up real nice!"

"Eh I'll get Johnny to do it later." said Dodge.

"Please don't kill me! I have a wife and a son at home! Don't do this!" said the cop.

"Pipe down we ain't gonna kill you, yet at least." said one man.

"Put him in my office. I want to deal with this one." said Lee. He gave a sinister smile as he watched his men drag off the cop.

"Damn he's gonna wish he was dead." said Dodge.

* * *

_"A true friend has your best interests at heart and the pluck to tell you what you need to hear." - _

_E.A. Bucchianeri_

Back in Fossae Jet had handcuffed the men that attacked Faye to a gas tank and interrogated them.

"All right I wanna know who sent you two." asked Jet.

"We ain't tellin' you nothin' pal." said one man.

"We're lower level guys. We were told to go after the woman and that's all they told us." said the other man.

"Sheesh you guys take orders better than ISSP officers." said Jet.

"Well if you kill us you won't find out anything." said the man.

"On the contrary, we're calling the cops there's a sweet old lady inside the convenience store who saw the whole thing." said Jet with a smile.

"Crap." said both the men at the same time.

Faye had landed her ship back down and reached inside to grab something. Spike was leaning against it with his arms crossed.

"That's a convenient trick your Redtail pulled off." said Spike.

"Yeah well a girl's always gotta be prepared." said Faye.

Faye grabbed Spike's folded clothes and a pack of cigarettes from under her seat and handed them to him.

"What's this? You had my clothes?" asked Spike.

"Well I kept them just in case we ever found you. I knew you'd be running around in something this filthy."

"Well that's awfully sweet of you Faye." said Spike with a smile.

Faye crossed her arms and scowled "Don't get any funny ideas in that little head of yours, I was trying to be considerate." she said.

"Considerate? That's not like you."

"What do you know about being considerate Spike? You never care if you hurt anyone's feelings!"

"Well maybe if people weren't always prying, their feelings wouldn't get hurt."

"Spike… I'm just… I'm not trying to argue with you. I just want to get it through your thick skull that your actions affect people."

"Well I really appreciate the tip Faye." said Spike sarcastically. They stood in an awkward silence for a while. They both leaned on the Red Tail with their arms crossed.

"That beard makes you look ridiculous." said Faye.

"You think so? I thought I would've had one once I woke up in the hospital." said Spike.

"Yeah we let the local beauty school work on you while you were in the coma; they shaved you because they needed a clean face."

"What?! You let a bunch of women put make-up on me while I was in a coma?!"

"Don't worry there was some men too, they even practiced hair styling on that fuzz ball you call a head." said Faye with a smile.

"Why did you let them do that?!"

"Why not? Beauty is a cause I believe in, plus we got some extra bucks out of it."

"Well that's just great." Spike pouted and crossed his arms again.

Jet walked away from the gas tank and approached Spike and Faye. "Well I couldn't get anything out of them. I called Bob for a favor he's sending over some guys over here to pick them up. I also paid off the old lady to make sure she doesn't say that she saw you here Spike." he said.

"Thanks Jet, but we need to get out of here this whole situation gives me a headache." said Spike.

In the distance the gas tank that the two men were handcuffed to suddenly exploded, throwing flames and debris everywhere. It made the convenience store catch on fire too. The trio stared, dumbfounded, at the wreck. "Oh great Spike you're back one day and everything gets wrecked!" whined Jet. "How is this my fault?! I didn't even touch the damn thing!" said Spike. The old woman came running out and yelled at them. "You're gonna have to pay for this!" she said. The three of them scattered and ran back to the space crafts, jetting off back to The Bebop.

Back on The Bebop Spike was taking a shower while Jet cooked and Faye painted her toe nails on the couch. The Bebop had a complete moment where it was the way it used be, and the three of them loved every minute of it. Spike came out of the shower and shaved his face. He came out of the shower room with his gray sweat pants and a towel around his neck. He sat on the yellow chair and laid his head back while closing his eyes.

"Oh I see you got rid of that ugly piece of carpet that was on your face." said Faye.

"I can feel the air on my face again, I like it." said Spike as he rubbed his face.

"Well you look like your old self."

"I guess facial hair only works for Jet."

"What's that?" asked Jet.

"It's nothing Jet." said Spike.

"Food's almost ready."

"Good, I'm starving."

Jet brought out three plates from the kitchen and placed them on the coffee table. All three of them gathered round and turned on the TV.

"Hmm bell peppers and beef… with beef." said Spike with a smile.

"Yeah we actually got to keep some cash without you wrecking everything." said Jet with a smug look. He continued and pointed his finger "Enjoy while it lasts, after we pay for that mishap at the gas station we're going to be running a little low on funds."

"Yeah how did that blow up anyway?" asked Faye.

"Well the guys who are after me, if their pawns don't accomplish their tasks, they're executed. Maybe there was an explosive on one of them and someone detonated it."

Jet put his hands on his hips and said "Oh I don't like this, not one bit. We're going to end up running through all of our funds if there's a wreck everywhere we go."

"Well why don't we go on a little bounty then if you're so worried about money." said Spike.

"Oh no, no way. I can't risk having you out in the open." said Jet.

"Ah, come on Jet we'll get away from Mars, some part of the solar system where people won't recognize me."

"Yeah but ISSP is everywhere no matter where we go. Haven't you had enough action lately Spike?"

"Nope. I spent months lying down, I want to make up for lost time." said Spike with a smile.

"You never learn do you Spike." said Jet in dissatisfaction.

* * *

Dodge went out on a drug run with another enforcer, dropping off briefcases of red-eye throughout Mars on his MONO racer, the Great White. The Red Dragon Syndicate began regaining its grip on the solar system. Without The Van's traditional ways things got done faster, but there was much more violence. All of the members lost what little code of honor they had. Largely due to Lee's influence and commands.

Dodge and the enforcer arrived in an abandoned factory where the client instructed him to leave a briefcase full of red-eye in the men's restroom. It was dark inside the room, the smell was horrendous. Dodge left the brief case behind a toilet and lit a cigarette and smoked it. The enforcer stood back, keeping lookout. While they stood silently a gun fired and hit the enforcer straight through the head. As the body collapsed Dodge dropped his cigarette, drew his weapon and put his back against the wall. He heard multiple footsteps directly on the other side of the wall. He put his automatic gun against it, following the sound and fired. There were five men; he was killed two of them while the other three jumped out of the way. One of the men got up from the dusty floor and ran inside the bathroom "You son of a bitch!" said the man. Dodge aimed and fired at the man, killing him instantly.

The two other men ran outside, climbed up the ladder and got on their space crafts that were covered with tarps and flew away. Dodge didn't let them go; he climbed aboard his Great White and pursued them. The attackers flew straight for a few thousand feet and split separate ways. Dodge followed one of them and fired the machine gun. It hit the back of the space craft; it lost control and flew downward with intensity. Dodge fired the machine gun again; the targeted space craft was hit and it plummeted down, crashed and exploded. The other ship was far away but Dodge was able to fly fast enough and catch up to it. The fleeing space craft shot a missile that went backward and exploded into multiple, creating a shotgun effect. Dodge maneuvered around the blast, tilting the Great White side to side. He fired the machine gun and hit dead on. The attacker's space craft landed severely on the ground. Dodge landed his Great White and climbed off; he ran toward the smoking space craft and opened the pod. The man inside was breathing with difficulty, he said "You little shit, just wait-" Dodge shot him before he could finish. He searched through the compartments and found an ISSP badge. Dodge took out his cell phone and called Lee. "Sir, we got a big problem." said Dodge.

* * *

The Bebop set a course to Ganymede. On the inside Jet was working on their space crafts, while Faye slept in her room and Spike on the couch. He had a dream about Julia's death that woke him up. He sat up and wiped the sweat off his forehead. Spike got off the couch and headed toward the ship bay. Spike entered and looked upon his Swordfish and smiled.

"I missed this piece of junk." said Spike.

"Huh? Oh Spike, I thought you were asleep." said Jet.

"Just barely."

"Your Swordfish has been gathering dust for a long time."

"I'm surprised ISSP didn't impound the thing."

"Oh they did, but I pulled a few strings with Bob and bought it off of them."

Jet and Spike leaned against the Swordfish; Spike took out a pack of cigarettes and handed one to Jet. They stood there for a while in silence. "Why didn't you hesitate to come back?" asked Jet.

"The night I escaped the hospital I took refuge for one night at an old friend's house. Right away I left the next morning only to be attacked by Red Dragon and they made a threat." said Spike.

"A threat?"

"To me and both of you guys."

"How do you know for sure they're going to act on it?"

"This friend of mine, his name was Roy, he let me stay only one night Jet. And they murdered him."

"We can't go to ISSP with this Spike."

"I know we can't. I have the feeling that ISSP is working with them, they have a lot of guys on the inside."

Jet exhaled a cloud of smoke and rubbed his head. "So what are we gonna do, you're telling me we're screwed, right?"

"Not if we fight."

"This is all gonna go wrong, I just know it. But I'll help you Spike, for all of our sake."

"Whatever happens, happens." Spike threw his cigarette on the floor and put it out with his foot and left the room.

"I hope you're wrong." said Jet.

Spike walked through the hallways; the sink inside the bathroom was running water and it turned off. Faye came out of the bathroom as Spike passed by.

"You never told me who those guys were Spike." said Faye.

"Red Dragon." said Spike.

Faye had a somber expression on her face "Vicious is dead, I thought all of this was over Spike."

"I never said it would be over." said Spike.

"Then killing Vicious was all pointless! Is that what you're saying?"

"It got them of your backs didn't it?! I was supposed to die and they were never going to bother you guys again! But I guess things never work out the way they're supposed to!"

"What's going to happen to all of us Spike? Are you going to take us in the grave with you?"

Spike looked directly into her eyes and brought his face closer. "If anything bad happens, I'll make sure it'll only happen to me." he said.

"I don't want anything to happen to you again Spike." said Faye with tears welling up in her eyes.

"Don't get your hopes up then." said Spike. He left the hallway and laid back down on the couch. Faye stood in the hallway for a while, with her back against the wall. She worried about how Spike was supposed to get them out of this situation without him having to die. They were comrades and even though she didn't like to show it, she cared about Spike and Jet. They had been her only family for a long time and after having remembered how she lost her parents, she didn't want to lose any more family. The Bebop sailed off in space headed toward its destination.


	4. Chapter 4

_"Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much." ― Helen Keller_

It was night; Lee was reviewing papers in his office with a new mahogany wood desk. He had an angry expression on his face as he shuffled through page after page of documents. The warehouse was quiet; there were only a couple of men on the bottom floor playing poker and drinking. Dodge landed his Great White on the outside of the warehouse and walked in through the back door.

"Hey Dodge! How'd the run go?" said one drunken man.

"C'mon you know me! The best always gets the job done." said Dodge with a smug look.

"Hey where's Ren at?" asked one of the men.

"Oh you know the lazy bum went home after we were done dropping off the red-eye." said Dodge. He continued "Is Lee up in his office?"

"Yeah I think he's waiting for you up there." said another drunken man.

Dodge walked up the metal staircase and knocked on the door of Lee's office. Lee walked to the door, unlocked it and opened it slightly. Dodge opened the door the rest of the way as Lee walked back to his desk and sat back in the chair. Dodge closed the door behind him and pulled up a chair. He set it in front of Lee's desk and sat down. The two of them sat in silence for a moment; the small office had no windows and had only one light with a ceiling fan making it feel completely isolated. Dodge reached in his coat pocket, took out the ISSP badge he found on the man and set it down on Lee's desk.

"Did you identify the man?" asked Lee.

"Yeah his name was Harvey. But I looked up a different identification and he had another name, Joseph. Joseph was the one who worked for ISSP." said Dodge.

"So he was an undercover officer for a gang? Not the other way around?"

"Yep."

"What about Ren?"

"They killed him while he was keeping watch."

"What were you doing? Was there nothing you could've done to stop it?"

"I was putting the briefcase down."

"Hmm… Did any of the other assailants have badges too?"

"No they didn't have any badges. The way they were dressed… I think they might be Blue Snake."

"I wouldn't be surprised. That syndicate has been attempting to take charge ever since we've lost our assets and gone underground."

"What about White Tiger?"

"They've been a sleeping beast ever since comrade Vicious killed their leader and put the blame on Mao."

"Maybe they woke up already, y'know?"

"It's possible."

"Well one thing's for sure, we ain't the only ones that got guys in ISSP."

"I imagine their motive would be to keep us off the streets."

"If we keep doing drug runs, it's gonna be a war out there."

"They want an execution. We combat them and then it turns into war." Lee stood up and put his hands behind his back. "In the long history of war it is common that neither side wants one to begin with. But not me, I crave the idea of war." said Lee.

"Why?"

"They decided to attack from the shadows, they want no altercation. If that's how they want to play, I'll do the same and let the situation escalate. This is an opportunity to defeat them and take charge." Lee took a pause for a moment. He continued "There was once a man I knew, he was addicted to gambling. He was great at it, maybe too great. Most of the regular clientele stopped showing up because they knew they would lose to him or they got superstitious that he took all the luck away. The mob boss that owned the casino didn't take it too well that they were losing so much money to one man. One night as the man was walking home, the owner of the casino sent a group of men to threaten him to stop playing at the casino. He didn't listen; he went back every night but played a little poorly so he wouldn't arouse suspicion from the management. But they knew he was still playing, so they broke his arm and told him to leave the establishment. The man was stubborn and prideful so he didn't leave; then the owner murdered his girlfriend. She was a beautiful thing, black hair and big brown eyes. It was devastating; the man was filled with so much rage and guilt that he confronted the mob boss and killed him. But it all felt empty."

"So you're saying that the man should've left the casino after they threatened him?" asked Dodge.

"No the man should've handled them after they threatened him." said Lee

Dodge had a troubled look in his eyes. "What exactly are you planning to do?" he said.

"We're going to clean house." Lee grabbed his coat that was hanging on his chair and put it on. He pushed his chair in as Dodge stood up. Lee stared directly at Dodge "Now go home, get some rest. We have much ahead of us." he said with a grin. Dodge exited the office while Lee turned off the lights and exited behind him. They walked down the stairs while the drunken men were still playing poker.

"Hey boss why don't you play a game with us?" asked one of the men.

Lee didn't say a word as he went out the back door and drove away. Dodge pulled up a chair and said "I'll play and I'll take all of you drunk losers down.

One man interjected "Hey… just 'cause… I'm drunk doesn't mean…" he vomited on the floor and passed out.

"Dammit, Yuto get a mop and clean this shit up." said Dodge

* * *

The Bebop had been soaring through space for about a week; Jet and Faye were still asleep while Spike went up to the main bridge and exercised. He thought about Julia again, having much regret. Spike came to the conclusion that he should have never loved Julia; she never would have died if it he hadn't. But he tried to deny his guilt; he thought that because Julia loved him back then it was mutual, either one of them could have died at any point and felt remorse over their lover's death. It just happened to be her. Maybe that was selfish thinking though, a way to try and ease his mind. His only wish was that he could've spent more time with her; it was never much of a relationship, she just came and went. He would've been able to discover more about her; her insecurities, her anxieties, her imperfections. But in essence Julia was just like a reoccurring dream.

Spike smoked a cigarette as he gazed at the navigation console. The console began beeping and The Bebop's course line shifted as there was a screeching noise on the back of the ship. The main computer then began to freeze up and beep as well. "Huh?" said Spike. All of a sudden The Bebop began to tilt over; Spike lost his balance and fell to the ground. In their quarters Jet and Faye rolled off their beds and slammed onto the floor, promptly waking them up. Faye said "Oww!" stood up and angrily yelled "Jet what the hell is going on?!" Jet rubbed his head and groaned in pain. He stood up and said "I don't know! Something must've hit the ship!" Jet ran out of his room and up to the main bridge; Faye followed after him. Inside the bridge Spike was standing up as Jet and Faye entered the room.

"Spike! What the hell happened?" said Jet. "I don't know! The navigation console started beeping and the ship turned over!" said Spike. Jet sat in the captain's chair and assessed the damage. "Something hit us on the south side!" said Jet. He tried to steer The Bebop back onto its set course, but the thrusters were off. Spike and Faye ran down to the living room. "Did in an asteroid hit us or something?!" asked Faye. An alarm sounded off; the ship's connecting passage opened up and two thieves with masks ran inside. "I don't think asteroids break into ships!" said Spike. One of the thieves held up a gun at Spike "Don't move! This is a hold up!" he said. Spike swiftly kicked the gun out of the thief's hand and brought down his foot on his head. Spike then spin kicked him unconscious. The other man tried to attack Spike with a crowbar, but he fought him back. Another thief came inside and went after Faye as she ran toward her room. He poked his head in her room but he didn't find her "Come on out sweetheart." he said with a smile. The thief walked in the room, scratching his head. He felt a tap on his shoulder and turned around only to feel the force of Faye's kick break his nose. She grabbed her Austria 45, pointed it straight and ran into hallway. The living room was empty except the one man lying unconscious on the floor; she cautiously walked through hallway when someone jumped out from behind the wall. It was Spike and she breathed a sigh of relief. "That's the second time you've pointed a gun at me since I've been back." said Spike with a smile. "Be careful cowboy, or next time I won't hesitate to fire." said Faye.

Jet was trying to put the ship back online but it kept freezing up. Jet angrily kicked the computer "Ohh, this kind of stuff was easier when Ed was here." he said. More men broke into the storage room and it sounded another alarm. "That's it!" said Jet. He took out his radio and contacted the other ship.

"Hey what the hell do you think you're doing?!" said Jet.

The captain of the other ship answered and said "Just trying to make a quick score pal! Don't try any funny business like getting away!" He laughed eccentrically.

"Weasels!" said Jet. His jaw dropped as he stared at one of the computer screens "Oh damn they're transferring out all of our money!" said Jet. The gravity began to decrease and soon everyone was floating around the ship. Spike and Faye took the opportunity to float the unconscious thieves through the connecting passage. But the other ship disconnected from The Bebop, hurling their own men into space. "Huh. Oh well." said Spike as he shrugged.

Jet came floating down the stairs from the main bridge. "Spike they're cleaning out the rest of the ship and our credit cards!" he said.

"How the hell are supposed to stop them?! We can't get down there!" said Faye.

"Forget that it's too late. Just try and get to the ship bay and launch off, we gotta get back what's ours' before their ship gets away!" said Jet.

Spike and Faye floated through the small door and into the ship bay. Jet floated back up the stairs into the main bridge and sat in the captain's chair. He stared out the window as the thieves' ship flew away and came to a sudden realization. He picked up the radio and called them "I know who you guys are, you're the Apaches. You guys clean out every part of the ship you rob and leave them hanging them dry. Buddy just you wait, you messed with the wrong ship this time." said Jet with a smug look. "Not bad! Sorry we have to cut our introduction so short! Have fun drifting off to your death pal!" said the other captain.

Inside the ship bay Faye put on her space suit, opened up the pod to her Redtail and climbed in. She flew across the runway and into space after the ship. Spike put on his spacesuit accordingly and opened the pod to the Swordfish. He dusted off the seat and said "Did you miss me?" Spike climbed in and blasted off the runway. Jet called in on Faye. "Okay Faye the ship is trying to head toward the hyper-space gate, stop it before it gets away!" he said. "I'll try." said Faye. She called Spike "Spike, use your cannon to hit its main thrusters while I get in front of it."

she said.

"All right sounds simple enough." said Spike. Jet gasped and called Faye "Wait Faye what if ISSP is tracing our calls?" he said. Spike called in "Then it's a risk we'll have to take." he said with a self-assured smile on his face. Faye flew above the thieves' ship and shot her machine gun at the front, doing minimal damage. Spike got in closer to main thrusters and aimed his plasma cannon. All of a sudden a heavy machine gun exposed itself in the back and began firing at the Swordfish. Spike maneuvered his ship around the gun fire while shooting back. He turned the Swordfish on its side and flew away from the gunfire. He came back around and flew down at 70 degrees for a few thousand feet and came straight up at the ship. Spike charged his plasma cannon while the thieves' ship made a sharp left turn. Spike fired, hitting the left thruster and the ship started to slow down. He charged it again and fired but the ship maneuvered and evaded the blast. The thieves' ship shot guided missiles at the Redtail; Faye slowed down and flew backwards. The patterns of the cheap missiles changed and they hit a group of asteroids, accidentally hurling a huge asteroid directly at the main bridge. The bridge's hull was completely destroyed by it and the ship came to a stop as the captain drifted off into space. Spike stopped his ship near the wreck; he jumped out of the Swordfish and floated into the gaping hole that the asteroid left. He took out his gun and cautiously proceeded though the ship. Faye did the same and floated in behind Spike.

"Okay Jet, where'd they stash our stuff?" asked Spike.

"Seems like they put our stuff in their cargo area. Look for a container and carry it back to the ship with your Swordfish." said Jet.

"I'm on it." said Spike.

"Faye I need you to find the main computer and select their last transaction and return it back to the Bebop."

"Okay…" said Faye

"Then turn off the transmitter that's blocking The Bebop from going online."

"Oh… Jet I'm not good with computers!"

Spike floated through the ship trying to look for a staircase to the cargo area. He opened a door when one of the thieves pointed his gun and said "Eat this!" The thief lost all of the oxygen going into his lungs and his lifeless body floated away. Spike went down the staircase and found the cargo area. There was a plethora of massive containers filled with stolen items "Wow hard to imagine they've lasted this long." said Spike. He saw two containers marked _Bebop_ "How convenient." said Spike with a smile. Then two men wearing space suits came out from behind several barrels and started shooting at Spike. Spike took cover behind The Bebop's containers. While they were shooting Spike hooked a cable to a handle on both of the containers and tied the other end to his waist. One of the men floated toward Spike and shot at him. The bullets ricocheted against the containers and grazed the man, leaving tears in his space suit. He quickly started losing air while the pressure inside of the suit built up and his head ruptured inside the helmet. Spike shuddered in disgust. The other man threw a grenade at Spike and it exploded.

Up on the main bridge Faye used the main computer to return all their money back to The Bebop.

"Okay there!" said Faye.

"Good work Faye, now look for the transmitter." said Jet.

"Okay I'm looking at it."

"Now turn it off."

"How do I do that?!"

"Just destroy it!"

"Destroying I can do."

Faye pointed her gun at the transmitter and shot it three times. She called Jet and said "All right Jet I got it."

"Okay The Bebop is starting to come back online. Did Spike come back up yet?" said Jet. "I don't see him." said Faye.

Faye heard the grenade's explosion coming from the cargo area. Faye turned and gasped "Spike…" she uttered. Faye floated toward the door and was blinded by the smoke. "Spike are you still down there?!" she asked. "Spike?!" said Jet. There was silence for a moment. The smoke had started to clear away and there no sign of him. The two held their breath and worried that Spike didn't survive the explosion. Out of the shadows Spike's hand grabbed the railing. Spike came rushing up the stairs with the containers strapped to him. "Sorry I kept you waiting." said Spike with a smile. Faye and Jet breathed a sigh of relief. "All right lets the hell out of here." said Faye. She helped Spike tug the containers out of the ship and tie them onto the Swordfish. Spike got in and Faye got in her Redtail. They flew away from the wreckage and back onto The Bebop. They landed their space crafts in the ship bay and off-loaded. Spike and Faye took off their space suits and headed toward the living room. Jet came down from the main bridge. The three of them rested in the living room and sat in silence. They each took out a cigarette and lighted them.

"Just like old times, huh?" said Spike.

"Heh-heh. You said it." said Jet

"Ugh, I need a shower." said Faye. She patted Spike's shoulder as she stood up and walked away.

* * *

It was noon on Mars; The Red Dragons' warehouse was filled with members coming and going. They had been gaining a substantial amount of money distributing red-eye. As long as ISSP was getting paid they had nothing to worry about. But when Dodge discovered that rival syndicates were trying to stop them and Lee announced it to his enforcers, problems arose. Dodge walked into the warehouse and went up the stairs into Lee's office where Lee had gathered his main enforcers.

"What the hell boss?! We're just supposed to go out there and get our asses killed?" asked one of the enforcers.

"I expect you all to be able to handle this." said Lee.

"My guys aren't going to take this well, we got a bunch of runs to do today and they're gonna be paranoid."

"Well then motivate them."

"How?"

"Intimidation." said Lee as he stared down his enforcer with a cold look.

"Okay boss. We'll be careful out there." said the enforcer as he left the room.

"You. Shiro, I want you to look up any leads on Blue Snake activity. I want you to set a trap for the slithering creatures." said Lee.

"I'm on it." said Shiro.

"The rest of you, continue distributing red-eye. If you come across any problems do not hesitate to fight back." said Lee.

The men left the room with disgruntled expressions on their faces and Dodge approached Lee. "I didn't think they'd handle the news this bad." he said.

"They're just not confident in their abilities. They'll realize that there is nothing to worry about." said Lee.

"We won't let you down sir."

"I'm positive you won't."

The ceiling fan rotated rapidly as Dodge and Lee stood silent in the office.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Hey guys I hope you're enjoying the story so far! I've started to slow the pace a little because some have expressed that they wanted it to slow down so they could enjoy the plot and characters more. Pay attention to the Red Dragon characters too their story is important! I hope you all enjoy this chapter! See you Space Cowboys and Cowgirls!**

* * *

_"Never to go on trips with anyone you do not love."_

_― Ernest Hemingway_

There was a bright flash as The Bebop entered Ganymede's hyper-space gate. Jet's home system seemed like the best place for them to lay low, Spike's presence in Mars was too dangerous. Jet wasn't worried, usually ISSP on different systems didn't like to interfere with each other's internal affairs unless there need be. In PDG Bob was the only security blanket that Jet had, but at the same time Bob knew that Spike was with them so he was more of a liability.

Jet was in the main bridge sitting in the captain's chair while Spike cat-napped on the front seat. Jet clicked away at the keyboard as Faye walked into the bridge.

"Is it cold in Ganymede right now?" asked Faye.

"It was terra formed from ice and it cycles back, of course it's cold." said Jet.

"Colder than that tone you're using with me right now Jet?"

"Almost."

"I'm not surprised that of all the places you decide to lay low of course it has to be your home."

"You got a problem with Ganymede?"

"A place with less land than Neptune, no thanks."

"It's much more civilized than Earth that's for sure."

"When I was young Earth was a pretty great place."

"It's hard to imagine that rock ever being great."

"Yeah well when I was young there were so many sights and things to do, you should've seen it."

"You told me you were wealthy, you sure that didn't change your perspective compared to the rest of the world?"

Faye crossed her arms and scowled. "I wasn't some spoiled brat if that's what you're insisting."

"Yeah but you're definitely a brat now." said Jet under his breath.

Faye slammed her heel into Jet's foot and he screamed in pain. "And I wasn't spoiled either. I'm especially not spoiled now, how could any of us be spoiled when we never have any food?" said Faye.

"Why don't you ask your other team mate." said Jet.

Spike lifted up his head but didn't turn to look at them. "Jet I thought you said you got to keep money without me around well where is it now?" asked Spike.

"We put most of it into an account for you, but it's frozen now and we can't touch the damn money." said Jet.

"Why's that?"

"Because your dumbass left the hospital!"

Spike slowly stood out of the chair and put his hands in his pockets. He walked past Jet and Faye as went down the stairs into the living room. Faye watched Spike as he left and then turned back to Jet. "You know you shouldn't try so hard to make him feel guilty." said Faye. Jet continued to click away at the keyboard and stayed silent. Faye left the main bridge and went down the stairs to find Spike lying down the couch with a book covering his face. She walked up to him and took the book off his face. Spike turned onto his side to face away from Faye. Faye crouched next to him.

"You know he doesn't mean it Spike. He's probably just nervous about going back to Ganymede especially after the last few times." said Faye.

"You two would be better off if I had died huh? Funerals are cheaper you know." said Spike.

"That's the last thing Jet would've wanted, trust me he's just trying to hide his feelings from you." she said with a whimsical smile.

"What a closed-off group." said Spike.

Faye's expression became solemn as she stared at Spike. She stood up straight and threw the book back at Spike. She walked away from the living room and into her room.

Inside of her room Faye stretched and laid down on her bed. She was preoccupied that no one the ship was attempting to change from their old ways along with her. She was trying her hardest to be a better person; for the past few years Faye had lied and cheated to endure the hand she was dealt. But as she remembered her past she also remembered what kind of person she was too. Faye was a very sweet and mild-mannered girl in her youth; her mother always thought it was important to instill morals in her. She wasn't closed-off either; she was able to express herself freely and being a cheerleader definitely helped with that. She had lost herself to this odd future; but slowly she was trying to restore it by being apologetic and giving closure. Her comrades were of no help to this.

* * *

After Lee had announced to his enforcers that a rival syndicate was moving in on them he sent Shiro, a young black-haired man, to find information on Blue Snake in hopes of using it against them. It was late afternoon; Shiro stood with his hands in his coat pockets on the steps outside of a tall skyscraper. An ISSP patrol car drove up and stopped in front of the steps. Shiro opened the door to the patrol car and sat inside. The car drove off and headed inside of an alley. Inside of the car the officer handed files inside of a manila folder to Shiro.

"We caught some guys with a few cases of red-eye so we know they're taking from us." said the officer.

"Did they talk?" asked Shiro.

"Not at all, but I have another lead. I know this other officer, his name's Jack. Me and some of the other guys have been building a case on him for a while. I had one of my guys patrol with him and Jack's been taking him to some meetings with Blue Snake."

"Did your guy hear what they were talking about?"

"He said that Jack traded off a hefty amount of confiscated red-eye for a lot of woolongs."

"You sure Jack just isn't just crooked? You know just trying to make a little score on the side?"

"That's what I thought, but my guy said that they were talking too much like old friends and that Jack said he'd meet back with them soon. But it didn't seem like it was going to be about money."

"You think Jack is a member?"

"He's awfully easy on Blue Snake when we arrest them."

"But now we know Blue Snake is trying to muscle in our red-eye flow."

"That's right."

"What do you think I should tell Lee?"

"Tell him about Jack, I'll have my guy ask him about when the next meeting is and I'll update you."

"All right thanks."

"Anything for the Dragon."

Shiro and the officer shook hands as he held onto the files. Shiro opened the door to the patrol car and got out. He slammed the door and the car drove off while Shiro took out his phone and dialed it. "Hey Dodge, it's me. Come on by I think we have our lead." he said.

* * *

Inside the ship bay Jet was working on the Redtail; there was floating pieces of metal everywhere. Spike walked in and stood above Jet while he was under the ship. Jet came out and stood next to Spike with a cigarette between his lips. Jet floated the cigarette to Spike and he inhaled it. Spike exhaled the smoke and leaned on the ship with his arms crossed.

"You ever hear this one?" asked Jet.

Spike looked intently at Jet.

"One time there was a fox with a bone stuck in his throat. He told the whole forest that if anyone could dislodge the bone he would give them a reward. Of course the whole forest tried to dislodge it, but one by one they all failed. One time a crane came by and gave it a go. With his long and thin beak he was able to extract the bone from the fox's throat. When the crane asked for the reward the fox said that knowing he had helped him should be reward enough." said Jet.

"You know I appreciate you letting me back on the ship. I really do." said Spike.

"Yeah sometimes I'm just being selfish and expecting my end of the deal." said Jet.

"But I never offered a reward."

"When we first met you tempted me with the idea about the glamorous life-style of bounty-hunting. That equals a reward in my book."

"Well maybe you shouldn't have been thinking with that bird-brain then." said Spike with a smile.

"I really hate birds." said Jet.

Spike started chuckling.

"What's so funny?" asked Jet.

"I'm just trying to imagine you as some elegant crane. Bald head and all." said Spike with whimsy.

Jet closed his eyes and smiled. "Yeah I guess that would be pretty ridiculous." he said.

Spike started laughing and grabbed onto Jet's shoulder to try and hold his composure. Jet started laughing along and soon both of them were in an uproar. Their laughter echoed throughout the halls of The Bebop and Faye barged in with a facial mask on. "Would you guys keep it down?!" she said. Her annoyed expression quickly turned to confusion as she stared at Jet and Spike holding onto each other and laughing until their sides hurt.

* * *

Dodge and Shiro walked into a dimly lit bar; they walked toward the bar counter and sat on wooden stools. Dodge knocked on the counter and said "Just give me two glasses of whiskey." The bar tender who was cleaning a glass nodded at Dodge. Dodge took out a cigarette and lighted it. He motioned the cigarette carton at Shiro but he pushed the carton away with the back of his hand.

"I don't smoke." said Shiro.

"I guess that's why we never hang out." said Dodge.

Shiro tried to put down the manila folder on the counter but the bar tender put down two glasses before he could. Dodge moved the glasses and Shiro placed the files down. "Hey bring the whole bottle of whiskey, yeah?" said Dodge. The bar tender placed the whiskey on the counter next to Dodge. He gulped down the glass of whiskey and opened up the manila folder.

"Who's this?" asked Dodge.

"He's a cop, his name is Jack." said Shiro.

"He's our lead?"

"Yes sir."

"Our guy said he's part of the Snake?"

"Yeah he has an in with the meetings between Jack and Blue Snake. They're making deals with our red-eye."

"Taking what's ours, those stupid little shits."

"That's why they attacked you and Ren?"

"Yeah. But Ren didn't die for nothing."

"So are you going to take this up to Lee?"

"Yeah he's gonna like this. This is really good work Shiro."

Dodge poured more whiskey into the glass and gulped it down. Shiro tried to drink the whiskey but ended up spitting it out. Dodge laughed and patted Shiro harshly on the back.

"You need to relax Shiro, you're too uptight." said Dodge.

"I think everyone around here is too relaxed if you ask me." said Shiro.

"Well no one's ever gonna ask you anything that's for sure." said Dodge as he gulped down another glass of whiskey.

* * *

The Bebop exited through Ganymede's hyper-space gate and floated toward the blue moon. Inside the ship Jet was in the captain's chair trying to connect to the Ganymede control tower in order to gain permission into the system.

"What are going to tell them when they ask what's on board Jet?" asked Faye.

"Just a couple of humble bounty hunters and some space crafts, nothing else. Besides my old partner Donnelly shouldn't give us too much of a hassle." said Jet.

"We certainly have our in-roads with ISSP don't we?" said Spike.

"I think they trust you too much if you ask me." said Faye.

"I've never had anything to hide from them." said Jet.

"Yeah not until now." said Faye.

"Don't worry about it. ISSP is incompetent, always has been. We can relax while we're here." said Jet.

"Yeah relax, with what money?" said Faye.

"We'll figure out something." said Jet.

"You know… there are plenty of bounty heads out here in Ganymede." said Spike.

"What'd I say before Spike? We'd be attracting too much attention to ourselves." said Jet. The computer in the control unit beeped and the screen turned up.

**Present State of Affairs…**

** Your Access was Completed.**

A video link set up and there was a young ISSP officer on the screen. "This is Ganymede police regarding your permission to land." he said. Jet was shocked not to see Donnelly on the screen. Faye and Spike held their breath as they worried that new officer would not them through.

Jet cleared his throat and said "Umm… ship identification number, NCC-170. Captain Jet Black speaking."

The young officer became bright-eyed and smiled wide. "Wait a minute you're _the_ Jet Black?! The Black Dog?!" he said.

"Uh yeah that's me." said Jet.

"It's an honor to meet you sir! I'm a big fan!" said the young officer.

"Really?"

"Yeah you're a real legend in Ganymede, especially to all the rookies in PDG! My name's Joel and uh you're asking permission to land?"

"That's right."

"Should be no problem!" said Joel.

"I don't mean to pry but do you know what happened the guy before you, an old guy named Donnelly?" asked Jet.

"Yeah he retired a few months ago. He's resting comfortably with his family right now."

"Well that's good to hear."

"All right then I'll give you clearance! Welcome back Jet Black!" said Joel as he switched off the screen. Everyone on The Bebop breathed a sigh of relief.

"So you have a fan club huh Jet?" said Faye.

"Don't make it sound cheap. It's just a couple of guys who can appreciate talent." said Jet.

"Can I have an autograph then Mr. Black Dog?" said Faye whimsically.

"Shut it! You're being obnoxious!" said Jet.

"You two really sound like a broken record." said Spike.

The Bebop landed in a harbor on Ganymede in the morning. The ports were filled with fisherman and sailors going about their day. Inside of The Bebop Faye was filing her nails and Jet was on his computer in the living room. Spike walked in and said "Hey Jet I'm heading out."

"What, already? We just got here." said Jet.

"We've been cooped up in here for too long, I need some air." said Spike.

"I don't know if that's such a good idea." said Jet.

"Yeah Spike's right, I need to get out of here too." said Faye. She stood up from the couch and grabbed her red overcoat.

"Oh so you two are just gonna leave me by myself is that it?" said Jet as he crossed his arms.

"You can get out of here too Jet, you have plenty of old buddies you can be seeing." said Faye.

Jet grumbled "I'm not the kind to just drop in on old friends." he said.

"Yeah just old girlfriends huh?" said Faye.

Jet scowled and turned his attention back to the computer. "Fine whatever just go. Don't go wrecking everything though." he said.

Spike and Faye went into the ship bay and launched off in their ships while Jet stayed behind and clicked away at his computer.

* * *

Dodge and Shiro walked around Tharsis at night. Dodge was smoking a cigarette while Shiro held onto the files tightly.

"Hey you gotta keep up kid." said Dodge.

"I'm sorry sir. It's kind of cold." said Shiro.

"How long have you lived on Mars, Shiro?"

"All my life. I was born here. What about you sir?"

"Me? Ah, I was born on Earth. Made my way up and was able to fly out here when I was twenty."

"Earth? What's it like?"

"Shitty. I'm surprised people are still having babies there."

"Well you've certainly made things quite well for yourself."

"Don't be such a kiss ass Shiro."

"I'm sorry sir."

"I'm just messing with you kid. I like you, you got good work ethic."

"Oh… well thank you sir."

Dodge threw his cigarette to the ground and stomped it down. A car with its headlights turned off was slowly approaching Dodge and Shiro. Dodge stopped Shiro as he looked behind him. Shiro turned around to look at the car. The car stopped for a second as they stared at it. Dodge began to walk back slowly, grabbing Shiro by the arm and then they began to run. The car turned on its headlights and sped forward. Dodge and Shiro ducked into an alley while the passenger in the car began shooting at the street. The car drove past them and then turned around. Shiro and Dodge ran through alley and out the other end to the street. The car stopped in front of the alley. The two men that were inside the car got out and ran into the alley. On the other end they couldn't find Dodge or Shiro. One of the men turned his head as Dodge punched him in the face. He fell unconscious as the other man pointed his gun at Dodge, but Shiro knocked him out with a piece of wood. Dodge and Shiro dragged the unconscious men into the alley. Dodge grabbed a bottle of whiskey and poured it on them. One of the guys gagged on it while the other one started backing up against the wall. Dodge and Shiro pointed their guns at them.

"Hey man what the hell do you think you're doing?!" said one of the men.

"What the hell do _you_ think you're doing?!" said Dodge.

"Following orders."

"From who? You guys trying to get these files?"

"Yeah that's what we were told."

"Does your boss know what's in 'em?"

"No that's why he wanted them so badly."

"Good we're gonna keep it that way."

"Hey we promise we won't tell him that we saw you guys! We'll just say that we couldn't find you!"

"I don't know if I can believe that you know?"

"You gotta believe us man we won't say a word!"

Shiro then fired his gun at the man and shot him point blank in the head. Then he pointed it at the other man as he tried to run away. Shiro shot him in the back twice and he fell to the floor. Dodge was dumbfounded.

"Jesus, Shiro." said Dodge.

"Were you going to let them go?" asked Shiro.

"I don't know maybe, I didn't wanna create a scene."

"Well I made the tough decision for you. You can thank me later." Shiro put the gun back in its holster and walked out of the alley with his hands in his pocket. Dodge stared at Shiro with concern but decided to drop it and followed after him before ISSP came to the crime scene.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: I'm introducing new characters who will become very important later on through Bob and Jet's dialogue; their names will be in bold.**

* * *

_If you want to conquer the anxiety of life, live in the moment, live in the breath."_ _― Amit Ray_

It was late afternoon on Ganymede; Jet was in the kitchen cooking dinner as Spike walked in through the ship bay door with a brown paper bag filled with groceries.

"Hey Jet where are you?" asked Spike.

"Back here." said Jet as the pan sizzled.

"This is nice, it's like coming home to a housewife." said Spike whimsically.

"Watch it before I spit in your food." said Jet in a gruff tone.

"Take it easy Jet, just a joke."

"Yeah what's not a joke is how you and Faye would starve to death if I wasn't around. Didn't anyone ever teach how to live on your own? How did you ever get by?"

"I know it's a miracle huh?" said Spike. He set the groceries on the coffee table and sat down on the couch. He put his feet on the coffee table and put a cigarette between his lips.

Jet came to the living room with three plates of food. "You're really gonna smoke now? At least eat first." said Jet.

"It depends, do those noodles come with any meat?" said Spike.

"As a matter of fact I used the last of the meat we had in the freezer, so you better treasure this like gold."

Spike quickly put the cigarette back in its carton and grabbed a plate and a pair of chopsticks from Jet. Spike and Jet began eating as Faye walked in through the ship bay door with bags filled with clothes.

"Faye I thought you said you were going to cut back on spending?" said Jet.

"I did, these were all on sale." said Faye as she walked down the steps.

"You're going to blow right through all of our cash aren't you?"

"Calm down this is just to hold me off for a while."

"Yeah right." said Spike.

"Geez you guys still don't trust me after all this time?" said Faye.

"It's not that, it's just that this is totally predictable." said Jet.

"I can't suddenly change my ways overnight, you know." said Faye.

"Eh, never mind just drop it. Come get a plate." said Jet.

"Gee, thanks for waiting for me." said Faye sarcastically.

"I said it'd be ready at 6:30, but you take too damn long." said Jet.

"Well sorry I'm out keeping busy, while you sit around the ship waiting for something bad to happen." said Faye as she set down the bags.

"How did you come to that conclusion? Didn't I say we could all relax while we were here?" said Jet.

"Actions speak louder than words Jet. Or in your case lack of action." said Faye.

"All right Faye, I get it. I'll get out of here if you're so worried about it." said Jet with a smile.

"And do what?" asked Faye.

"I don't know, maybe drop in on Bob or something." said Jet.

"You always do that though. Both of you are always doing the same things all the time." said Faye.

"Well what do you suggest, Ms. Extrovert?" said Spike.

"I'm not sure. I can't think of anything else you two like other than causing trouble and getting drunk." said Faye.

"That's not completely true, I'm quite fond of my bonsai trees." said Jet.

"And don't forget smoking." said Spike.

Faye sighed as she grabbed a plate and began scarfing down the food. The three of them proceeded to quietly eat together in the living room.

* * *

Dodge and Shiro walked into the warehouse through the back door. They walked up the metal staircase into Lee's office.

"Ah, gentlemen have a seat." said Lee.

Dodge and Shiro pulled up two chairs in front of Lee's desk and sat down.

"Shiro, Dodge tells me that you have a lead." said Lee.

"That's correct sir." said Shiro.

"Yeah I told Shiro he should see one of our guys in ISSP." said Dodge.

Shiro stared angrily at Dodge, knowing full well it was his own idea. "Well you hinted at it, but you didn't have any other course of action. I told our ISSP officer what to do and he obliged me, I spent time gathering other names and seeking courses we should take." said Shiro.

"Dodge is that true? Your ideas usually aren't that impulsive." said Lee.

"Well sir, you know I'm focusing on moving red-eye right now." said Dodge.

"Look sir, I'm not going to let this run on. I know of this officer named Jack who is also a member of the Blue Snake syndicate and he's got a meeting with a lot of members soon. Our guy will tell us when and where, all we need to know is what you plan to do." said Shiro as he put down the files on Lee's desk.

Lee sat with his hands clasped together under his chin. He put his hands down and opened up the manila folder. "Hmm, you even have blue prints of the building..." said Lee.

Dodge had a worried look on his face.

"Dodge, why don't you give Shiro and I a moment?" said Lee.

Dodge uttered "But sir I really think I should be involved in this decision."

"Dodge, please. Don't make me ask twice." said Lee with a cold look in his eyes.

Dodge's expression turned grave. "Okay sir." he said.

Shiro had a smug look on his face as Dodge stood out of his chair and left the office.

* * *

It was late at night; The Bebop was quiet. Inside the living room there was litter and empty beer cans scattered around the area. Spike was sitting on the couch watching the television on low volume as the screen dimly lit the dark room. Jet walked up from behind the couch with his jacket on.

"I'm heading out." said Jet.

"To do what?" asked Spike.

"I need to see Bob about something."

"You wouldn't happen to be getting information on a bounty would you?"

"Fat chance."

"Then what are you going for?"

"Spike, he knows you're on board the ship. I need to make sure that the cops aren't snooping around."

"All right then, good luck with that."

"I won't take too long, and you could clean this mess up while I'm gone."

"We'll see."

Jet murmured to himself and headed to the ship bay door. Inside the ship bay Jet climbed on his Hammerhead, opened the hatch and sat inside. He started up his ship and launched off.

Faye was in her room, sitting on her bed and rewinding the beta-max tape on her television. She paused it and hit play; on the screen her younger self got out of bed and greeted the camera a good morning. Faye stared at the screen as her younger self spoke "Today, you are who you are today. See? You're still me but you're a newer version... Myself ten years from now, that's so far away it's almost impossible to imagine! Am I alone or is there a wonderful person next to me? Oh, well knowing me I'm sure you're causing all kinds of trouble for lots of different people. I'm sorry, I don't mean to. But it's all right, that's part of life too isn't it? You're not perfect but you've got a lot to give. So, remember I'll always be cheering you on!" Faye stopped the tape right there and intensely gazed at her younger self who was smiling wide on the screen.

Faye turned off the television and wiped her face with her hand. She took a deep sigh and stood up. She walked off her bed and opened the door to her room. She poked her head through the doorway and saw Spike sitting on the couch. She walked into the living room behind the couch.

"Where's Jet?" asked Faye.

"He went out." said Spike.

"Looks like he finally took my advice."

"He'll be back soon."

"Oh my God, what's with this all this mess Spike? It's like a pig sty!"

"Don't worry about it, I'll clean it up later."

"Yeah, right." said Faye with a scowl.

Spike stayed silent and continued to watch the television screen.

Faye's expression became serious.

"What'cha watching?" asked Faye.

"It's an action movie, I think." said Spike with a bored expression on his face.

Faye went around the couch and sat right next to Spike. "Is it any good?" she asked, brushing her hair back.

"Couldn't tell ya." said Spike.

"Why's that?"

"I hate action movies. They're too unrealistic."

"How so?"

"The hero always saves the girl."

Faye curled up on the couch. She knew that Spike was referring to Julia, but Faye hadn't the slightest idea how to respond. She thought that saying something to him probably would've gotten them in an argument.

"Shouldn't you be sleeping already or something?" asked Spike.

"Are you trying to get rid of me?" said Faye.

"Ever since the day you first came onto this ship."

"Your heart must really be made of stone. After everything we've been through you can still bring yourself to say something like that."

Spike realized what he said harsh and he wanted to apologize, but he couldn't. He wasn't used to saying sorry. "It's just… I feel bitter right now, that's all." he said.

Faye stared at Spike with concern. "Spike…" she said.

Spike turned his gaze away from the television and stared at Faye.

"I'm sorry about what happened to Julia. I always have been. I know I didn't say anything before but I guess now is a good a time as any to say so." said Faye.

"What makes you think this a good time to say that?"

"I… I don't know. I guess there really never is a good time for that kind of thing."

"I guess you're right." said Spike as he turned his attention back to the television.

"Well you haven't mentioned it at all." said Faye.

"Should I have? I absolutely needed to mention it?"

"Yes, because you're supposed to be able to share what's troubling you."

"Where's this coming from Faye?"

"Nothing… it was something I was thinking about earlier, that's all."

"You think too much."

"And you don't think at all, do you Spike?"

"Faye... let's not argue. Just watch the damn movie."

Faye sighed and looked at the television with a solemn expression.

Spike took out a cigarette and placed it in his mouth; he reached for his lighter inside his pants pocket and lit the cigarette. He inhaled and exhaled the smoke. He then motioned the cigarette carton at Faye.

"Thanks." said Faye as she pulled a cigarette out of the carton and put it between her lips.

Spike took his lighter and lighted the cigarette for her. They sat in silence for the remainder of the time. After a while Spike fell asleep on the couch and Faye then took the opportunity to go back to her room and sleep herself.

* * *

It was a cold night, Jet and Bob were standing on the top of a tall building while smoking. Jet leaned on the railing while Bob leaned his back against the tower with his arms crossed.

"Your crew had any trouble yet?" asked Bob.

"Just some crooks that attacked us on the way here." said Jet.

"You can rest easy Jet, PDG has bigger fish to fry."

"Who would that be?"

"**Marius Basque**, the president of the Basque Corporation."

"You mean the weapons manufacturer?"

"That's right."

"What happened?"

"There was a senator from Ganymede that was killed by a sniper recently. We got a few tips that Basque was behind it."

"Oh yeah, I heard something about the senator on the news."

"Basque's connection hasn't been reported yet. This is tightly secured Jet."

"Why are you telling me?"

"Once we find out who the hit man is and the statute of limitations runs out we're gonna have to put a bounty on him, thought you'd like to know ahead of time."

"I'm not too keen on going on bounties right now, can't have my partner attracting too much attention."

"Well if you decide to do it, I have an idea of who the hit man might be."

"Who?"

"**Demitri Bardon**, a regular for Basque. He's a cold and skilled assassin, he served the military once. That's where he got his training. The guy's really good at getting in and getting out. Once we catch him hopefully he'll be able to link us to Basque and we'll arrest him too."

Bob's phone began ringing; he reached in his coat pocket for it. He answered it and a woman's voice said "Bob its **Donna**, where are you?!"

"I'm in a meeting, I'll get back to you later." said Bob.

"The chief is getting really sick and tired of your bullshit Bob! You need to get down here right now!" said Donna.

"It's not bullshit Donna, I swear."

"I am not covering for you again! I will not take part in listening to another one of his damn speeches! I am not going to lose my job because of your incompetent dumbass!"

"All right, all right Donna get off my ass tell the chief I'm on my way back right now."

"Yeah, whatever you bastard."

Donna hung up and Bob put his phone back in his pocket.

"What's that? Was that **Donna Shapiro**?" asked Jet.

"Yeah the same rookie you taught years ago." said Bob.

"I haven't seen her in eight years. It's been so long I'd forgotten all about her."

"She ain't a rookie any more that's for sure."

"Man, does she sound tough… I remember when she was this bright-eyed twenty year-old girl who used to hang around me all the time."

"She isn't some school girl with a crush anymore. She's a no nonsense, hard-hitting woman Jet."

"Always told her she should've left and did something else. Guess she never took my advice."

"She's got a kid."

"She's married?"

"Nah the dead-beat ran out on them. It's just been her and her son all these years."

"She definitely deserves a lot better."

"Don't we all?"

As Jet and Bob stood on the building, the waves of Ganymede's sea crashed on the harbors with the lights of the city illuminating the night. The evening settled in silence.

* * *

Dodge knocked on Lee's door.

"Come in." said Lee.

Dodge opened the door and then closed it. He sat down in a chair and sighed.

"Is something troubling you?" asked Lee.

"You gotta let me know what you're planning to do sir. I know I was concerned at first when you told me that you were going to clean house but now I'm completely on board." said Dodge.

"That's good to hear Dodge."

"So you'll tell me now?"

"I might as well, since you'll be leading a team in this operation."

"I'm all ears."

"Two and a half weeks from now Shiro's lead will meet with other Blue Snake members inside the MBI Building in the southern business district of Tharsis."

"Okay."

Lee took out a map of the building and laid it on his desk. "They're meeting on the top floor. Shiro has mapped out several air vents that we'll fill with tear gas. We'll get some of our men on the roof to rappel and break into the building through the windows."

"You don't think some of the guys will try to run down the stairs?"

"That's where you come in. Shiro suggested that you and a team remain guard on the stairs and elevators to catch any enemies that are trying to escape."

"Shiro suggested it, huh?"

"That's right, he knows just as well as I do that you can get the job done."

"Well thanks that means a lot sir."

"This is the first strike back of many. We're hitting back harder than Blue Snake ever expected."

"This is how you plan to incite war?"

"That is correct. And you're all the soldiers who are here to serve."

* * *

Spike awoke on the couch, with the living room still a mess. Jet was on his computer beside the couch.

"Did you sleep well?" asked Jet.

"No, my back is killing me." said Spike.

"Tough! I told you to clean this up yesterday!"

"You really want me to clean this right now?"

"Yes!"

"At least let me stretch first."

"You have some nerve. You never pull your own weight around here! I'm the only one that seems to get anything done on this ship."

"What's he so huffy about?" asked Faye as she entered the living room.

"Jet says I need to start pulling my weight around here." said Spike.

"And that goes double for you Faye." said Jet.

"Me?! Yesterday I cleaned… wait that wasn't me. But I washed… oh no I didn't get around to that either…" said Faye.

"Just as I thought." said Jet.

"Well you do such a good job playing housewife Jet, we let you do all that work for us. Isn't that right Spike?" said Faye with a whimsical smile.

Spike ignored Faye's comment and took out a cigarette.

"I can't believe that's how you see it! I'm just a man who takes pride in a clean ship." said Jet.

Faye had a sad expression on her face, feeling down that Spike had shrugged her off. "Fine you're right Jet. I'm heading out." she said.

"Fine. Dinner's gonna be ready at 7:00." said Jet.

Faye walked up the stairs to the ship bay door and exited out. She started up her Redtail and launched off into the blue sky.

"So what did Bob say?" asked Spike as he lit the cigarette between his lips.

"We're fine, PDG has got other things to worry about." said Jet.

"What would that be?" asked Spike.

"A senator was assassinated, Bob thinks the president of a weapons manufacturer was behind it."

"Which manufacturer?"

"Basque Industries."

"Whoa they're after the Marius Basque?"

"Not exactly, they have to find the hit man first and then connect it back to to him and his company."

"You think they'll put a bounty on him?"

"It's possible… And I already know what you're thinking and the answer is no."

"All right Jet, have it your way." said Spike as he got off the couch and stretched. He then gathered the litter and beer cans from the living room. He threw them away in the garbage and walked back to the living room. Spike then proceeded up the stairs to the ship bay door. He looked inside the ship bay and stared at the empty space that Faye's Redtail usually occupied.

"Hey Jet did Faye say where she was going?" asked Spike.

"Not a clue." said Jet.

"Hmm…"

"Why did you need something?"

"No, forget about it."


	7. Chapter 7

Shiro was leaning his back against the Red Dragon's huge warehouse as Dodge walked out through the back door. Dodge and Shiro stared at each other with a grim expression.

"Did Lee get you up to speed?" asked Shiro.

"Yeah." said Dodge.

"Is it acceptable or are you going to be an ass about it?"

"What the hell is your problem man?! We barely start working together and you have Lee demoting me and putting you in my place!"

"That's not my fault, maybe I'm helping him realize that you're not as serious about this as I am."

"You're wrong! I take the Red Dragon very seriously! It's my job and it's my life!"

"Then start acting like it Dodge! Sure things are easy to run now because we're starting over inside some shit warehouse and all we have to do is some simple drug runs and hits but things are going to start changing soon! Will you be able to help run a legitimate business, the former glory that the Red Dragon syndicate once was? Do you think Lee will trust you to help him run a legitimate business?"

Dodge stayed silent with an angry look in his eyes.

"If you're not stepping up to that with the position you're in, then I'll take it myself." said Shiro.

"What makes you think that Lee will be so quick to put you into that position, what the hell makes you so special?" said Dodge.

"I'm motivated and I'm sophisticated, just like him. It's just a matter of time before I replace you." said Shiro in a smug tone.

"That is never going to happen. You hear me!" shouted Dodge in rage.

Shiro glared at Dodge with hostile eyes. Shiro was intimidating even though he was much shorter than Dodge "Are you going to stop me then? Are you finally going to man up?" he said.

"We'll see. Once this job is done I'll make sure to step up my game and I will cut you down." said Dodge looking down on Shiro.

Shiro turned away with a smug grin and walked away while Dodge stayed behind and leaned against the building. Dodge took out a cigarette from his coat pocket and placed it between his lips. He then lighted the cigarette and took a drag from it and exhaled.

* * *

_"Worry does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow. It empties it today of its strength." – Corrie Ten Boom_

It was the late evening, Spike and Jet were sitting in the living room of The Bebop; Spike was shuffling a deck of cards while Jet sat on the chair with his arms crossed and his foot tapping the floor. There were three plates of food on the coffee table.

"Where the hell is Faye? I said the food would be ready at 7:00." said Jet.

Spike took a deep sigh and said "Can we just start without her? I'm starving Jet."

"Fine go ahead, what do I care. It's her food that'll go to waste." said Jet.

Spike began scarfing down the food while Jet hesitantly ate the food off his plate.

"What are you worried about Jet? Faye can take care of herself." said Spike.

"Oh yeah sure, you both do a fantastic job of taking care of yourselves. Then somehow the whatever mess you take care of always ends up rearing its ugly head back at all of us." said Jet.

"You sure you're not just worried that she's not coming back? She did leave awfully moody." said Spike.

"Ha! Yeah right, if she didn't come back that'd be much less of a headache for me." said Jet

* * *

Meanwhile Faye was sitting at the harbor, the stars were bright and the sea was calm. Her Redtail was parked next to her as she dangled her feet at the edge of the dock. Faye was contemplating whether or not she should go back to The Bebop. She felt hated by her comrades that nothing had changed in light of the events that occurred. All Jet did was bark at her like an overbearing father and Spike acted like he didn't even want her there. Faye's old motto of being alone is better than being in alone in a group started to ring true. There was no incentive for her to stay, especially since there was a entire syndicate out to exterminate them. If anything that was more than enough incentive to abandon the crew and she could keep herself away from the line of fire. Yet she still felt the strong urge to stay, after all she had already considered them her family. But she felt something more for Spike too, as much as she hated to admit it after all the near-death experiences she felt some kind of under developed affection for him. She didn't want to think of it in a romantic way though. Which made it that much harder for Faye to handle it whenever Spike gave her the cold shoulder. She also knew that even though Jet seemed to hate her presence and scold her, it was out of concern. It's nice to have someone worry about you.

Not knowing how to compute any of her thoughts, Faye got up and dusted herself off. She shivered from the cold night air, so she grabbed her bomber jacket out of her Redtail. She put on the jacket and zipped it up. She brought her hands close to her mouth and breathed on them in an attempt to warm them. Instead she put on her gloves and grabbed a cigarette from her pockets. She put it in between her lips and when she was going to light it a call rang from inside the Redtail. She climbed aboard her ship and gazed at the screen with a strained expression. Eventually she denied the call; she closed the hatch and started up the ship and flew off to a different destination.

* * *

Jet was staring at his phone and said "Huh. Faye didn't answer."

"She's a busy girl Jet, we shouldn't be bothering her." said Spike.

"I have to bother her otherwise she'll go around getting into trouble." said Jet.

"Well we can't control that now, can we?"

"This is so predictable. When she doesn't come back in time she ends leaving for a long period of time and then reappears out of the blue like some dog looking for scraps."

"Sometimes animals and even people just need to get outside Jet."

"What, like you wanting to go after a bounty after I told you we're supposed to lay low?"

"Something like that."

"Spike, we're all running from your past now I suggest you keep up."

"I get it Jet, but what the hell are we supposed to do? We can't leave, all we can do is sit around and wait for someone to come along and finally finish the job, right?"

"It's not like we can bring the fight to the Red Dragon, that's suicide."

"It's better than doing nothing."

"Spike don't be dense!"

"Then maybe I should do it myself, you know like last time."

"That is not going to happen, not this time. We've done too much for you to just go off again get yourself killed."

"I appreciate the concern Jet, but the longer we just stick around one another in fear we're only going to be around each other's necks." said Spike. He stood up from the couch and grabbed his coat and put it on.

"You're leaving?!" asked Jet.

"Not completely. I'm just going to get a drink and think things over." said Spike.

"Like what?"

"Like if I should have ever come back in the first place."

"Spike I'm not saying you that you shouldn't be here."

"Well if I wasn't here there wouldn't be this threat dangling over you and Faye."

"It's too late for that now and I have no regrets. Just focus on staying safe Spike."

"I still want that drink though…"

"We got some scotch in the fridge if you're so thirsty then."

"Okay I need a different setting then." said Spike. He straightened his coat and walked up the steps to the small ship bay door.

"Spike… tell me what has this whole thing been about for almost four years? Because we've been over this before, but now I have clue..." said Jet as he gazed at the cold floor with a blank expression.

"I don't know either… but I'll tell you once I find out." said Spike as he stared blankly at the ship bay door.

"You'll come back in one piece then?" asked Jet.

"Yeah." said Spike as the ship bay door opened. He climbed through it and went toward his Swordfish. Spike climbed aboard and sat inside. He gave a deep sigh and turned on his ship. The Bebop's hangar door opened and the Swordfish blasted off.

* * *

Shiro knocked on Lee's office door.

"Come in." said Lee.

Shiro opened the halfway door and poked his head through. "I'm not disrupting anything am I?" he asked in an obedient tone.

"No, no of course not. Have a seat Shiro." said Lee.

"Okay sir." said Shiro as he opened the door the rest of the way. He entered the office and closed the door behind him. He grabbed a seat and set it in front of Lee's desk.

"I'm correct in assuming there's something you want to discuss?" said Lee.

"It's more like small talk if I'm being completely honest sir." said Shiro.

"Small talk? It cannot be that important if it's referred to as small, now can it?"

"Well then let's just say it's kind of like a proposition then."

"Okay."

"I was thinking about the future of the Red Dragon."

"All right I'm listening." said Lee as he clasped his hands together and put his elbows on the desk.

"We're a relatively small operation right now, after we lost so many members and all of our assets the Red Dragon seemed like it just dissolved."

"I'm quite aware of that Shiro."

"I know sir, but after we take Blue Snake head on I suggest we take it a step further and restore the Red Dragon to the enterprise it once was."

"I don't know if you know this Shiro, but even though I am a busy man I still think about these things. I know the Red Dragon cannot survive unless it devours its prey and regains its strength."

"I do know that sir but I've been worried that you may not be able to take all that on yourself, have you suggested a bigger hierarchy?"

"Are you saying that I'm not strong enough to pull the weight of an entire organization on my shoulders?" said Lee with a cold stare and wrinkled lip.

Shiro swallowed out of uneasiness. "Umm… no sir I know you are more than capable but remember how the Van ran things. There were three of them and they thought alike but were still able to each bring something to the table, resulting in a fruitful organization."

"Ah, yes the Van… those old fossils and their outdated ways, there was never anything special about them."

"But having multiple frontrunners is an easier way to divide things and get things done faster, is it not?"

"I suppose so… I already do that now with Dodge and two of the top enforcers."

"Yes but your enforcers are only good for two things only: killing and pushing drugs. The Red Dragon was always so much more than that."

"Are you suggesting that I get rid of my enforcers?"

"No, I'm suggesting you put them back where they belong. Have someone else with a brain help you the enterprise part of things."

"Who do see would be able to help with such tasks?"

"I don't know sir whoever you see fit for that position." said Shiro as he leaned back in his chair.

"You're not very subtle at endorsing yourself Shiro… but I suppose you would make a viable candidate." said Lee.

"I really appreciate that sir."

"After we attack Blue Snake, I'll see how things work out and hopefully you'll be ready."

"I know I will sir." said Shiro with a smug look.

* * *

The night was still cold as Spike walked into a seedy bar and put his long brown coat on the coat rack. He walked toward the counter and leaned on it with his elbow "Give me a whiskey." he said. The bar tender obliged him and slid a glass of whiskey to Spike. Spike drank the whiskey and wiped his mouth with his sleeve. He looked across the bar to find Faye sitting on a stool and smoking a cigarette with her legs crossed. She was facing away with her eyes closed and didn't see Spike as he approached the stool next to her.

"Mind if I take this seat?" asked Spike.

Faye opened her eyes and turned them to look at Spike. "Sure, whatever." she said.

Spike pulled out the stool and sat in it. He leaned his arms on the bar counter. "Why didn't you come back to the ship yet?" he asked.

"What we have some kind of curfew?" asked Faye.

"No, Jet was getting paranoid that you weren't coming back."

"Well tell him he needs to mind his own business… how did you even find me Spike?"

"I wasn't trying to find you… I just wanted to get a drink." said Spike. He raised his hand slightly and nodded at the bartender.

"Out of all the thousands of bars on Ganymede, you randomly decided to walk into this one huh?" said Faye.

"Jet said it was the one that served the cheapest liquor." The bartender placed a glass of whiskey in front of Spike on the bar counter.

"He told me the same thing." said Faye as she exhaled a cloud of smoke.

Spike gripped the glass and gulped down the whiskey. He winced in disgust. "It tastes like cat urine." he said.

"He's such a cheapskate I swear." said Faye with an annoyed tone.

"It comes with the glamorous life-style of being a bounty hunter." said Spike.

"I need a different line of work." said Faye.

"Work? We haven't even been on a bounty this whole time, feels like we're all out of work. All we do is sit around and complain."

"You really need to learn how to take a breather Spike. You can't always be running around looking for a fight."

"Nothing else really seems to peak my interest."

"Nothing at all? What would you being doing if you weren't a bounty hunter?"

"I'm not sure… maybe work with my hands."

"Digging ditches?"

"If it put food in the fridge."

"No desk jobs huh?"

"Yeah right, I'd rather die." said Spike. He took out a cigarette from his jacket pocket. He placed it between his lips and lighted it. Time passed as Spike and Faye sat there. The smoke of the bar began to clear; one by one the drunken men left the bar. The busboys and the bar tender began cleaning and gathering the glasses and bottles of liquor.

"Death…" said Faye.

"What?" asked Spike.

"When you left the ship you told me you weren't going there to die, you were going to find out if you were really alive."

"Yeah, so what."

"Now you're back and all you keep saying is that you were supposed to die, what's that about?"

Spike sighed in annoyance.

"Spike!" said Faye in a demanding tone.

"Well what do you want me to say?!" said Spike angrily.

"Do you still think you're already dead or are you alive and want to die?! Which is the truth Spike?"

Spike blankly gazed into Faye's eyes. He dropped his head slightly and stared at the ground. "Maybe I just say a lot of things that don't really mean anything." he said.

"You really can't tell me anything about yourself..." said Faye as she turned her face away from Spike.

Spike put out his cigarette in the ash tray. He stood up from the stool and left a couple of woolongs from his pocket on the bar counter. Spike headed toward the coat rack.

"Wait!" said Faye. She stood out of her stool, left some woolongs on the counter and went after him.

Spike grabbed his coat and put it on. He opened the bar door and headed outside.

Faye grabbed her bomber jacket off the coat rack and put it on. The cold embraced her as she followed Spike outside and looked up at him. "Why are you like this Spike? Why can't you just ever talk to me?" she said.

Spike stopped walking but didn't turn to look at Faye. "I'm sorry Faye... sorry that I can't tell you what you want to hear." he said.

"It's not about what I want to I hear, it's about you being honest with yourself and everyone else." said Faye.

"What I say sounds bad, but that doesn't mean it's all lies. It's bad because the truth aches like an old wound. Maybe I'm just being brutally honest." said Spike.

Faye looked down in disappointment, her breath visible in the cold night air.

Spike turned to look upon Faye. With a guilty expression on his face he placed his hand on Faye's shoulder. "I'll tell you this… I had always believed that I just dreaming, that none of this was real, so I never feared death. Now that I look back on it I think I believed that because I was too afraid to let go of the past. But now the past is gone." said Spike.

"So what are you trying to do now?" asked Faye.

"I think that… for the first time in a long time I'm trying to live in the real world. It's just so damn hard sometimes." said Spike with a painful smile.

"That's why you've been shrugging everyone off huh?" said Faye looking up at Spike.

"Probably… but I don't mean to." said Spike.

"I guess I understand…"

"Now, come on get your Redtail and head back to the ship."

"Huh, I guess you must really want me back then." said Faye with a raised eyebrow and a smirk.

"I do Faye… I do want you back on the ship." said Spike.

Faye had a subtle expression of surprise on her face. She looked away from Spike and cleared her throat. "Okay then, I won't leave this time…" she said.

Spike gave a smirk. "Okay then." he said.

"Only because you were so sentimental about it." said Faye in a whimsical tone, pointing her finger at Spike.

"Hey don't get funny ideas, Jet and I just need someone to boss around or we won't get anything done." said Spike.

"Yeah, yeah whatever you say Spiegel." said Faye in a mocking tone as she walked away.

"You're such a pain my ass." said Spike under his breath with a smirk.


	8. Chapter 8

Inside of the Red Dragon warehouse Dodge was sitting around a table with other members, playing poker. Dodge took a drag from his cigarette and carelessly pushed a stack of poker chips further onto the table.

"Oh man Dodge you're slipping." said one man.

"What? Oh… back off! Stop worrying about how I play and you worry about yourself, asshole." said Dodge.

"Forget you then!" said the man.

"Hey Dodge you got something that's bothering you?" asked another man.

"Oh God, you sound like my mother." said Dodge.

"It's that little runt Shiro, huh?" said the man.

"Why? What do you know?" asked Dodge.

"C'mon we can all see that the prick is trying to muscle in on your job." said the man.

"Yeah the guy's a kiss ass." said another man.

"Well I'm glad you guys see it my way, but I'm not worried I know Lee has good judgment." said Dodge.

"If you're wrong then the boss is going to put a middle man between us and him, I don't like it." said the man.

"Worried you're not gonna get paid as much?" asked Dodge.

"Hell yeah, I'll leave the syndicate if I get paid any lower than what I'm already making." said the man.

"No one ever leaves the syndicate and lives you know that." said Dodge.

All the men at the table had a moment of silence staring at their cards that were held in between their hands. The game continued on for a few more minutes."I fold." said Dodge as he laid his cards on the poker table and left the warehouse.

* * *

_"I try not to live in the past, he thought, but who knows, sometimes the past lives in me." _

_― Jamie Ford_

Spike was walking on the sidewalk when he approached a black car that was parked near the bend of the street. He stepped off the sidewalk, went around to the left side of the car and opened the passenger side door and sat inside. He slammed the door shut, rested his head back and took a deep sigh.

"Did he talk?" asked Vicious with a grim tone and long face.

"Yeah, he sang like a canary." said Spike with a smirk. Spike dug around the pockets of his leather jacket and took out a carton of cigarettes. He pursed his lips around one of the cigarettes and pulled it from its carton.

"What did you do to him?" asked Vicious.

"Broke his leg, you know the usual." said Spike.

"Brute force truly is your ally Spike."

"You got that right."

Vicious stared ahead with cold eyes and his hands glued to the steering wheel.

"Something's wrong isn't it…" said Spike with a serious tone.

"Nothing is wrong." said Vicious.

"I know you, you're bad-tempered but right now you seem depressed." said Spike as he lighted the cigarette in his mouth.

"How did you come that conclusion?" said Vicious.

"Usually you're wearing a grin once you or I get a job done."

"Okay, something is troubling me…"

"Then tell me."

"I can't tell you unless I'm completely certain of it."

"Don't worry I'll get it, even if it's just bullshit."

"Neither of us are very good with sentimentality."

"C'mon…"

"Fine… I'm suspicious of someone… but if I told you then you might look at them differently and I can't have that happen."

"It's not that new guy is it?" asked Spike as he exhaled a cloud of smoke.

"It's not one of our men I'm suspicious of… it's Julia."

Spike eyes grew wider. He held the cigarette between his fingers and sealed his mouth, his heart began beating faster. "What… what about her?" he asked nervously.

"She's seeing another man… I know it." said Vicious.

"How do you know? I'm sure she wouldn't-

"I can sense it, I can read her like a book." said Vicious.

"What if she is… seeing someone … what are going to do about it?" asked Spike.

Looking straight ahead, Vicious gave a menacing smile and said "I'm going to slaughter him."

Spike jolted awake in the dark, breathing rapidly as his chest stretched out and in. He sat up on the couch and wiped the sweat from his forehead. He leaned back on the couch and rested his eyes for a while. Spike was surprised that he was still dreaming about the past; perhaps it was anxiety and sorrow slowly etching itself inside. What was different this time is that his recollections weren't clouded. Maybe it was coming to terms with the past, but his memories became much more vivid. "But why?" he thought to himself. It was probably inevitable symptoms of post-traumatic stress; he hated the past and he wanted to forget about it. Living in the real world seemed like a much harder feat if there was something that kept pulling him back. A small light illuminated a section of the living room. Spike opened one of his eyes and saw Jet reaching inside the refrigerator.

"What are you looking for?" asked Spike.

"Beer, I think there's some in the back." said Jet.

"Get me one too yeah?"

"There's only one left…"

"One left?" said Spike disappointedly.

"We'll split it." said Jet as he turned on one light. He headed toward the chair and set down a glass on the coffee table. Jet cracked open the beer and poured it into the cup halfway and handed it to Spike.

"Thanks." said Spike.

"Don't you ever sleep at night? The only time I ever see you actually asleep is in the day." said Jet as he sat down in the yellow chair.

"I should be asking you the same question, I've seen you trimming your bonsai trees at the dead of night." said Spike with a whimsy.

"Yeah, I guess you got me there." said Jet with smirk.

"What is it about those things?"

"They're therapeutic."

"Is that right? Mind showing how to do it one of these days?"

"Ha! Yeah right, knowing you, you'd probably get impatient destroy the poor things."

Spike chuckled. "Yeah you're probably right." he said.

Jet gulped down the beer and groaned.

Spike did the same and set down the empty glass on the coffee table.

"You want more don't you?" asked Jet.

"Yeah it's nowhere near enough to get hungover, we might as well be drinking ginger ale."

"To be fair, one beer wouldn't be enough to get you drunk either."

"That's true… I guess it didn't matter whether or not we split it, huh?"

"How did we ever manage to split anything in half for three years?"

"I know, right? I'm really surprise we managed to split anything three-ways with Faye."

"She took 60% while we accepted 40%."

Spike sneered. "Nothing is ever equal in this world, is it?" he said.

"You got that right." said Jet.

Suddenly all of the lights in the living room turned on, blatantly bright. Spike and Jet winced and covered their eyes with the back of their hands. They both turned to see Faye wandering in.

"Speak of the devil." said Jet.

"Huh? What were you two doing here in the dark?" asked Faye.

"Nothing." said Jet.

"You two were gossiping like a couple of girls at a sleep-over weren't you?" said Faye with a whimsical smile and hand on hip.

"Yeah right, think whatever you want Faye." said Spike.

Faye hummed as she strolled along to the refrigerator. She opened the door and frantically searched inside. "Hey did either one of you see a beer in the back? The one I said I was saving it for later?" she asked.

Spike and Jet glanced at each other and then quickly turned away; Spike scratched the back of his head and Jet crossed his arms.

Faye approached them and saw the empty beer can on the coffee table. "Hey!" she exclaimed. Faye snatched the can and hopelessly tilted it over to see if there was any left. She angrily threw the can onto the floor, put her hands on her hips and pouted. "All right which one of you bastards drank it?!" she asked demandingly.

"It doesn't matter, I bought it anyways." said Jet.

Faye stomped the ground and growled in anger. "I swear you two jackasses have no self-control." she said.

"You should try controlling that mouth of yours sometime." said Jet under his breath.

"Oh, good one Jet." said Spike.

"Good one what?" asked Faye.

"Nothing." said Spike and Jet at the same time.

"Well what about the scotch?" asked Faye.

"Don't look at us." said Jet.

"Oh yeah… I guess I drank that too…" said Faye.

"What are you doing hogging all the booze anyways, that's not very feminine you know." said Jet.

"Shows what you know about women Jet." said Faye. She went back to the refrigerator and opened it once again. She reached inside and pulled out a can of dog food. "This is all that's left Jet! When are we going to get some actual food?!" asked Faye as she dropped the can of dog food to the floor.

"Whenever we get some money." said Jet.

"How are we going to do that?" she asked.

"Well we haven't been doing anything this whole time, have you ever thought about actually getting a job?" said Jet.

The can of dog food rolled and hit Spike's foot. He looked down and scooped it up.

"What kind of jobs are there to get on Ganymede? Being a lowly fisherman isn't exactly my style." said Faye.

Spike observed the can of dog food in his hand.

"There's nothing demeaning about being a Ganymede fisherman! You can make a very decent living!" said Jet.

"Forget about it, I just remembered there were some emergency rations in the kitchen." said Faye as she walked away.

"You know it's not good for you to eat this late at night!" said Jet as he called out to Faye in the kitchen.

Spike put the can of dog food inside of his pocket. "Seriously Jet what are we going to do about money?" asked Spike.

"Would you two stop griping at me, I'll think of something!" said Jet.

* * *

Lee was inside of his dark office talking on his phone in a very low voice. The bright screen on his phone was illuminating his face as he had an angry expression. There was a knock on the door; Lee hung up the call and asked "What is it?"

"It's Dodge sir." said Dodge.

"Come in." said Lee.

Dodge put his hand on the door knob and tried opening the door. "It's locked sir." he said.

Lee stood up from his chair, turned on the light switch on the wall, and unlocked the door. He headed back to his chair as Dodge opened the door. "My apologies." said Lee as he sat down in his chair.

"That's okay sir." said Dodge as he sat in a chair in front of Lee's desk.

"What did you need?" asked Lee.

"You're the one that called me up here sir."

"Oh… yes that's correct."

"So…"

"Yes, now I have a proposition for you."

"What is it?"

"You know that I confide in all in my enforcers, but after we regain power I was wondering if you wanted to be the head of that whole operation."

"Sir, I don't know what to say." said Dodge with enthusiasm.

"Now you will be reporting back to me like usual, but you'll be telling the rest of the enforcers what to do with my consent of course. You will take a lot more responsibility how does that sound?" said Lee.

"I'll only need your permission?"

"Well myself and let's say a 'committee' of members that I will be consulting with."

"Wait…which members?"

"I'm not certain at this point, but you'll find out eventually."

"Then… this isn't a promotion, this is a demotion!"

"Dodge calm down I didn't say that this was set in stone, I was merely bearing it in mind."

"No! I can't believe you, after everything I've done!"

"I don't believe that you'd be able to handle that much responsibility."

"Did Shiro put you up to this? Are you actually listening to his bullshit?!"

"Dodge, it does not matter. I really appreciate your service but the Red Dragon requires structure."

"I can't believe this shit."

Lee stood up and stared Dodge down. "This is merely an outcome. Here I am offering you an opportunity AND YOU SPIT RIGHT IN MY FACE!" shouted Lee in rage.

Dodge flinched and started breathing uneasily. "Umm… I, I'm sorry, sir… I wasn't thinking straight…" he said.

Lee relaxed his shoulders and breathed out to calm down. "Either you consider this opportunity or you will have to leave the syndicate, do you understand."

Dodge swallowed nervously "Okay sir, I'll consider it." he said.

"Now get the hell out of my office, I'm working on something." said Lee.

* * *

In the afternoon Jet, Spike, and Faye were all up in the main bridge of The Bebop. Jet and Spike were sitting at the navigation console that was being used as a board for a chess game. Faye was in the front seat, reading a magazine with her feet up.

Spike propped up his elbow on the rim of the console to support his head with his hand. He was looking down on the screen and slumped down as he began to doze off.

"Spike make a move already!" said Jet.

Spike opened his eyes wide and regained his posture. "Oh, sorry…" he said.

"If you don't wanna play, just say so." said Jet.

"It's not that, I'm just having trouble of what move to make next." said Spike.

"You've been playing this whole game carelessly, what made you have a change of heart all of a sudden?

"I feel like winning."

Faye walked up to the two men at the navigation console. She stood and stared at the screen with one hand on her hip. She pointed her finger at a chess piece, then to an empty space and said "You should move it there Spike." She reached toward the piece but Spike pushed her hand out of the way.

"I know what I'm doing Faye." said Spike as he irritably stared at her.

"Hey don't get all huffy with me! I'm just trying to help!" said Faye.

"Well I never asked for your help!"

"You should accept help more often, you're nothing but a mess Spike." she said turning her face away and crossing her arms.

"I don't need to know what move to make next, it comes to me instinctively!" said Spike as he hastily moved the chess piece forward.

Faye sighed in annoyance and walked away from the navigation console.

"Ha!" exclaimed Jet as he moved his piece over Spike's.

Spike sighed and reached his hand inside of his jacket pocket. He pulled out a carton of cigarettes and the can of dog food accidentally fell out onto the console.

"What's that?" asked Jet.

"Uh, it's nothing." said Spike.

"That's Ein's dog food, why do you have it your pocket?" asked Jet.

Faye turned to look at Spike and Jet and stared at them intently.

"I'm just saving it for later." said Spike.

"That thing's been sitting in the fridge for almost a year, it's got to be expired already." said Jet.

"So what, I'll eat anything now with the state we're in." said Spike.

"That's disgusting, it's dog food Spike! And even if it wasn't it'd still be disgusting, it's probably toxic by now."

"Then you shouldn't leave things in the fridge."

"You were trying to reminisce about the ol' mongrel weren't you?" said Jet as he crossed his arms, closed his eyes and leaned back in the chair.

Spike tilted his head down and gazed at the can as it sat on the navigation console. "Did… you ever figure out what happened to him?" asked Spike.

Jet had a solemn look on his face with vacant eyes. "I'm not too sure… I like to think he went after Ed." he said.

Spike became gloomy along with Jet. "I get why she left and all but… I didn't think I ever really care about it." said Spike.

Jet turned his head to look at Faye. "Why don't you tell Spike what you told me?" he said.

"What?" asked Spike.

"Nothing… it's… what I told her the last time." said Faye.

"What did you tell her?" asked Spike with curiosity.

"I told her… to go find out where she belongs. But now that I look back on it, it's almost like I told her that she didn't belong here or that she never did."

"So now she's frantically searching for something that she's never going to find, huh?" said Spike.

"As if she was searching for proof that she was really alive." said Jet.

Faye got closer to the navigation console. "I regret telling her that… now she's God knows where. But I think I said it in moment because I was looking for somewhere too, but now I know there's nowhere to belong." she said.

"That's not true Faye… you belong here." said Jet hesitantly.

Faye once again had a subtle expression of surprise on her face.

"Maybe it is a good thing that Ed's not here, right now I mean." said Spike.

"What do you mean?" asked Faye.

"I got us all into a big mess… she won't have to suffer because of what I did."

"No one's suffering Spike." said Faye.

"Not yet at least." said Spike with a guilty expression.

* * *

**A/N: I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! I know the past few chapters have been focused on interactions between The Bebop crew and problems in the Red Dragon infrastructure but I wanted to spend a little bit of time on them so it didn't feel rushed. Especially The Bebop crew, I wanted to capture them as they were before things start to change, specifically when things start to heat up in the next chapter! Please review too! I really want to know what you guys think so far!**

**See You Space Cowboys and Cowgirls!**


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: To enhance the last section of this chapter I suggest playing The Real Man on Cowboy Bebop OST 3 Blue on repeat.**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

_"The ideal man bears the accidents of life with dignity and grace, making the best of circumstances." -Aristotle _

Jet and Spike were inside a convience store standing in front of shelves of products and foods. Jet was gathering the groceries in his arms as Spike stood back with his arms crossed. A gang of four men walked into the convenience store; they were rowdy and lewd. The girl at the register had an annoyed look on her face. The men pushed Jet out of the way "Watch it grandpa!" said one of the men. Jet stared at them with a scowl. They began grabbing food off the shelves and unwrapping them while laughing amongst themselves. One of them accidentally stepped on Spike's shoe. "Whoa sorry buddy." said the man sarcastically. This made Spike angry and clench his fist. Spike motioned his fist but Jet stopped him and said "No Spike, just let it go."

The men went up to the register, left some money, made a perverted comment about the female clerk, and left the store. "What is it about a group of men that make them think they own the world?" said Jet. "I don't know either." said Spike. The two of them went up to the register and paid for the groceries and cigarettes.

Spike and Jet headed out of the store. Spike threw the door open, accidentally knocking over one of the rowdy men that were in the store earlier. "Asshole!" exclaimed the man as he stood up from the floor. He faced Spike and they stared each other down. Spike readied his fists as the other three men stanced with their fists in the air.

"Look pal, we're not looking for any trouble." said Jet.

"Well you found it!" said the man as he swung at Spike. Spike side-stepped, making him miss. Spike came back and kneed him in the stomach. The man was winded; he held his stomach and fell to the floor. "Damn it Spike!" exclaimed Jet. The other men went in after Spike, Jet dropped the groceries and intervened.

* * *

Shiro was sitting across from Lee inside his office. The two of them were looking over documents on Lee's desk.

"So now you understand why I think there's something else going on with that meeting?" asked Shiro.

"Yes." said Lee.

Suddenly a door slammed open on the ground floor and group of Red Dragon members piled in while carrying a bloodied man in their arms. "Shit! He's dying!" said one man.

Shiro and Lee took notice and stood out of their chairs. They exited out of Lee's office and stared downstairs as the men placed the injured man on top of a table. "Gerrit, get me some sulfa !" said one man as held the injured man down.

Gerrit, a main enforcer, brought out a first aid kid and placed it on the table. The men tried to hold the injured man down as he went into shock. Gerrit rummaged through the kit. The injured man began to slow down and shake; he breathed heavily as he sweat profusely. He labored a breath and painfully coughed. He turned over on his side and died. "Damn it." said Gerrit. He closed the first aid kit.

One man kicked a chair over in anger. "Son of a bitch Blue Snake!" angrily yelled a man. "I can't believe this keeps happening!" interjected another.

Lee and Shiro walked down the staircase onto the ground floor. "What happened this time?" asked Lee.

"Routine drug run sir, we got attacked... again." said Gerrit.

"We'll get ours soon."said Shiro .

"Yeah when is that plan of yours by the way? This can't keep happening!" said Gerrit.

"Very soon, I told you not to hesitate to fight back." said Lee.

"We don't hesitate, but these guys keep attacking when we're not looking. Lee, our guys want blood." said Gerrit.

"I assure you we'll have vengance, and perhaps even more." said Lee.

* * *

Jet and Spike entered through the ship bay door. The two were scuffed up and limping while leaning against each other.

Faye was sitting on the couch and looked up to see them walk in. "Where the hell have you two been?!" she exclaimed. Her scowl quickly turned to curiosity. "Huh? What happened to you two?" asked Faye.

"We got into a fight." said Jet.

"A fight? With who?" asked Faye as she stood up.

"Just a couple of idiots, all thanks to Spike." said Jet.

"Stop griping Jet, I didn't even start it! He was the one who swung first." said Spike.

"You ever hear of turning the other cheek?" asked Jet. Jet and Spike sat down on the couch and sighed. Faye sat on the coffee table with her leg up.

"I would've turned the other cheek if he could even hit it." said Spike.

"It's that kind of attitude that gets you into trouble in the first place. Some grunt barely looks at you and he wants to fight." said Faye.

"Yeah well he got into big trouble this time, we have a bill." said Jet.

"A bill?" asked Faye.

"A bill for the damage to the convenience store, a bill for causing a supply truck to crash, and the bill for the bodily injury inflicted on the guys." said Jet.

"Oh God, how are we supposed to pay for of all of that? What about the emergency money?" asked Faye.

"That's what I was using to buy the food." said Jet.

"Then where's the food?!" asked Faye.

"I dropped it!" shouted Jet angrily.

"Well that's your mistake, you can't pin that one on me." said Spike.

Jet grumbled, stood up from the couch and walked toward the yellow chair. He pulled his computer closer as he sat down and began typing on the keyboard.

"What are you doing?" asked Faye.

Jet stayed silent and kept on typing.

"Jet?" asked Spike.

"Hello?! Jet how are we going to get the money?!" asked Faye demandingly.

"I didn't want to do this... but a bounty is our best bet. Take a look." said Jet as turned his screen toward Faye.

Spike shot up from the couch and smirked. "Ah that's more like it Jet, so who we going after?" asked Spike with enthusiasm.

"Not you Spike, Faye and I are going to tackle this one." said Jet.

"What? Come on Jet." whined Spike.

"Enough! I'm not going to argue about this anymore, going after a bounty isn't the same thing as going out and getting a drink. There's a risk to it, especially if the police have to get involved." said Jet.

Spike sat back down on the couch and sighed in disappointment. He crossed his arms kicked his feet up onto the coffee table.

"I'm not sorry about it either Spike, I told you need to keep a low profile and that little incident today didn't help." said Jet as he pointed his finged at Spike.

"Doesn't matter to me that you're sorry about it." said Spike.

"Two bounties huh? What's their story?" asked Faye as she leaned in and stared at the screen.

"They're both hackers, they hack into vehicles and steal them. Then they use them for parts or illegal racing. Sometimes they're not careful and hurt some pedestrians while doing so. We can catch either one of them for 500 thousand woolongs but if we bring them in together they'll 1.3 million; the extra 300 is there because we spared the cops some time." said Jet.

"Hmm not bad, when do we go after them?" asked Faye.

"Soon, they say that they the punks like to hang out around the fisherman's market by the Siena port." said Jet.

"So we're going to have to stick around some smelly market to find two hackers?" said Faye.

"It's the best one we got right now, besides hackers shouldn't be too hard to catch, it'll be a quick and easy." said Jet.

"If it's going to be so easy then how come I'm not allowed to go?" said Spike.

"Spike." said Jet gruffly.

"I thought you said hackers were boring Spike?" asked Faye.

"At this point I'll take anything." said Spike.

* * *

After weeks of waiting for their plan, the time had finally come. It was night on Mars, Dodge and the main enforcers stood in front of their men. "Okay this is your last briefing." said Dodge. Gerrit spoke "Listen to your higher-level enforcers, we're not positive on what Blue Snake is doing inside the building but it is important. We're in there for two reasons only: to get information and payback." he said. Lee came down the metal staircase from his office and onto the ground floor. All the men paid close attention.

"Blue Snake has been halting our enterprise. We've obviously been putting this off for too long. This is a big opportunity to strike back. But it's not as simple as that as Gerrit has noted. Shiro has investigated more and it would seem that they are doing more than unassuming meeting. There's something else brewing, it's our chance to discover it." said Lee.

Dodge stared at Shiro who was leaning against the wall with his arms crossed. "Why didn't they tell us this before?" whispered one low-level enforcer to another.

Lee continued "Now go." he said.

Dodge, the main enforcers, and the men arrived to the lower business district in Tharsis; the BMI building was in the far right. It was a tall skyscaper with huge windows and garden area in front. There were vans and cars filled with Red Dragon men that stopped in the front of the building. Some of the Red Dragons and Gerrit off-loaded from a MONO carrier that landed on the roof. Dodge and some men entered through the main entrance of the building. Dodge pointed his gun in the air and shot once. The civilians inside began screaming and ducking for cover. "Everyone get out!" said Dodge. As people began crowding out through the main entrance the Red Dragons headed toward the stairwell and the elevators. Dodge led a team up the stairwell while another team headed toward the elevator.

The team in the elevator went up to the second floor. On the second floor the men lowered the elevators back down to the first floor and opened the doors. They put C4 on the cables of some of the elevators and closed the doors.

On the roof Gerrit and his men stood with assault rifles and protective gear. Gerrit took out a radio from his pocket and contacted Dodge. "Okay we're ready." said Gerrit. Dodge and his men stood along the steps of the stairwell with guns prepared. "Do it." said Dodge.

Gerrit pointed his index finger in the air and then made a fist and nodded to his men. The men nodded and tied ropes to the roof ledges. The jumped down and planted their feet on the top floor window. The Blue Snake members inside the top floor looked at the windows confused with their guns pointed. There were two men of importance inside: Jack, the officer, and a Blue Snake leader in a suit. The Red Dragon men pushed back off the window and with the momentum they shot their weapons, breaking the windows and rolling inside. The Blue Snake men began firing back and immediately a shootout ensued between them and the Red Dragons. The Blue Snake leader in the suit ducked under the desk and pushed a button on his phone that called out for help.

Blue Snake members drove up to the main entrance of the building. They ran inside toward the elevators and the stairwell. Inside the elevators the Blue Snake men awaited their arrival to the top floor but then the C4 exploded and the cables dropped the elevators. There was a huge crash at the first floor as the elevators impacted. All the men inside the elevators either died or were severely injured.

The Blue Snake members that went up the stairwell were running up each step only to meet Dodge and his men. With a smirk Dodge fired and his men did the same.

Up on the top floor Gerrit grabbed the leader in the suit from the shoulder and pointed a gun at his head. "What are you guys doing up here huh?!" he shouted. "I'm not at liberty to discuss it!" said the leader nervously. "Grab all of the hard drives and documents!" said Gerrit. A few of Gerrit's men pulled hard drives and disks out the computers and others grabbed documents out of the filing cabinets. While keeping his gun pointed at the Blue Snake leader Gerrit called Lee "Sir, we got some hard drives and physical copies we're getting out of here." he said. All of the Red Dragons walked out of the large entrance of the office, some pointing weapons at Blue Snake members who had surrendered with their hands in the air. Gerrit was pushing the leader forward while the gun was pointed straight at his head. Blue Snake members came down the hallway and pointed their weapons. The Red Dragon members pointed back, some threw the hostages they had at gun point onto the floor. Another shoot out ensued.

In the front of the building Shiro, Lee, and a few other men arrived in a black car. They walked through the main entrance and into one of the unbroken elevators.

On the top floor some of the Red Dragon members had been slain as the Blue Snake members pressed forward. Gerrit and his remaining men were taking cover behind trashcans and doors while shooting back. Dodge and his team opened the door to the top floor from the stairwell and began shooting the Blue Snake formation from behind. "Were these guys already up here?!" asked Dodge as he took cover behind a statue. The Blue Snake formation had been decreasing as the Red Dragons trapped them from both sides in the hallway. Some surrendered and put down their weapons. The Red Dragons had their guns pointed at the men and told them to move as they headed toward the stairwell and the elevators.

Lee and Shiro arrived to the top floor in the hallway. Dodge was surprised. "Sir… what are you doing here? We're handling this!" he said. Lee ignored him and headed toward the Blue Snake leader that Gerrit seized. Lee put his hands around the leader's neck and threw him to the floor. Lee threw a ball onto the floor that exploded and tied a cable around the leader's ankles. Lee dragged the leader back into the office as Dodge, Gerrit, Shiro, and some of the Red Dragon members followed. Lee went toward one of the shattered windows and broke the protruding shards of glass with his foot. He propped up the Blue Snake leader, tied the other end of the cable to the frame of the window and kicked him out. The leader dropped downward, the cable jerked him back and he hit the window of the floor beneath them. "Dodge, there's more Blue Snake men coming inside the building go take care of it." said Lee. "I'm on it sir, some of you stay up here and protect the boss he is all of our main priority!" said Dodge. Dodge and his team went down the stairwell to combat the other Blue Snake members that were coming up.

Shiro and Gerrit stood inside the office as Lee suspended the Blue Snake leader off the side of the building. "What do you want from me?! Who are you guys?!" asked the leader as he raised his voice to be heard over the wind outside. "Those documents! I know they're data is encrypted! They have no use for us until you tell us the passcodes!" shouted Lee as he shook the cable and threw the man against the window. "Okay! Okay! Please don't let me fall!" pleaded the leader.

Dodge and him team exited out of the stairwell on the first floor. Blue Snake members entered in through the main entrance. Dodge took cover behind the concierge desk and began shooting back.

"Here's the encryption codes!" said the dangling Blue Snake leader as he threw a disc to Lee. Lee looked at the disc and put it in his pocket. "Now pull me back up!" said the leader.

"This theatrical method was for intimidation. If I was only here to get information I would let you live, but..." said Lee.

"But what?!" asked the leader nervously.

"On behalf of my men that you have killed, I'm also here for revenge." said Lee with a grimace. Lee backed up, kicked the window frame and broke it in. The frame collapsed and the leader plummeted to his death. "Okay, let's leave." said Lee as he headed toward the office entrance.

Gerrit, Shiro, and the other Red Dragons left with the hard drives and documents. They arrived to the first floor where Dodge and his men cleared out the main hall. "You got what you came here for?" asked Dodge. "Yes." said Shiro. "I wasn't asking you!" said Dodge.

"Quiet, both of you." said Lee. They all exited out of the main entrance and entered into their cars and vans. Gerrit called down the MONO carrier to the street. The ship was hovering a few feet above the floor as Gerrit and his men entered in it. Then a few shots rang out that hit the ship. "It's a sniper! Gerrit get the hell out of here!" said Dodge as he entered the driver's side of a car. As the MONO carrier flew up another ship flew by and fired a machine gun at it. The MONO carrier that contained Gerrit and his men exploded in the air and the debris fell onto the street.

Lee stared at the wreckage angrily. "Get in sir!" said Shiro as he opened the car door. Lee stepped inside the car and the Red Dragons drove off as Blue Snake began approaching.

A ship was chasing down Dodge as he drove with another Red Dragon member. Thde ship fired its machine gun and Dodge began to lose control of the car. "Take over!" said Dodge to the passanger as he reached for an assault rifle in the back seat. They switched sides; Dodge lowered the window and put his upper body outside. He aimed the weapon at the ship and began shooting. It barely did any damage; the ship began shooting back and the car sped up. When it ceased fire the car slowed down and the ship tilted downward to slow down along with the car. As the cockpit was exposed Dodge fired again and killed the pilot. The ship made a hard left and crashed into the street.

Shiro was driving as Lee sat in the passenger's side. Two cars were tailing them; Lee had a pistol in his hand and loaded a clip into it. He cocked the gun and pointed his finger. "Turn here." he said. Shiro made the sharp turn, making Lee's side face the cars that were behind them. Lee pointed his weapon at the the cars and fired. The windshields shattered, the cars screeched and spun out and crashed into each. The two cars drove straight into abbuilding. The cars were destroyed as Shiro and Lee drove off. "I don't think I've ever seen you in action like this before sir." said Shiro. Lee stayed silent and continued to stare at the road ahead. At the building ISSP arrived only to clean up the mess left in the wake of the Red Dragon syndicate.


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: To start off, Happy New Year everyone! This is the longest I've gone without updating but hey, better late than never. This is the longest chapter I've written too so I hope you all enjoy it. See you space cowboys and cowgirls!**

* * *

_"When I was young I thought that money was the most important thing in life; now that I am old I know that it is." – Oscar Wilde_

Faye and Jet sat in the main room of The Bebop. Faye filed her nails while she sat on the couch with her legs up, calmly stretched along it with one knee folded up. Faye moved the file back and forth across her nails with her fingers folded; then she sharply exhaled on her nails to blow away the debris.  
Jet sat in the chair while he laid out his Walther P99 in separate parts on the coffee table. He cleaned the exposed gun with a white towel and wiped away the grime with his thumb as he carefully observed it in his hand. As an extra measure he blew into it to clear the residue inside of the gun.  
Spike was up in the main bridge as he gazed at the clear sky through the enormous floor-to-ceiling windows. He had his left hand inside of his pocket while the fingers of his right hand supported a cigarette between his lips. He sighed and exhaled a cloud of smoke with a bored inflection.  
Back in the main room Faye sat up and set her feet on the floor. She groaned and said "Are you done already Jet?"  
Jet continued to focus on cleaning his gun and said "Hold on, you have the patience of a child."  
"I wouldn't get impatient if you weren't such a sloth." said Faye.  
"Are you even doing anything to get ready Faye? Keeping up your appearance isn't exactly the best way to prepare for a bounty." said Jet.  
"You would too if you actually had something to keep up." said Faye with her arms crossed.  
Jet sighed and put down his gun. He slid his computer toward himself and turned the screen to Faye. "Here take a good look at their faces again." said Jet as his focus returned to cleaning his gun. On the screen two profiles were displayed.

** WANTED CRIMINAL****/   
**

**__****W**** 500,000**

**DURANGO PONTHIEX**

******\HEIGHT:********6 FEET 2 INCHES****  
**

**************\WEIGHT : 174**

******************\AGE : 23**

**********************\DOML: GANYMEDE**

******WANTED CRIMINAL****/ **

******__****W**** 500,000**

**KAARLO ALDCROFT **

**\HEIGHT:**** 5 FEET 10 INCHES**

** \WEIGHT : 159**

** \AGE : 21   
**

** \DOML : GANYMEDE   
**

**CRIMINAL RECORD(S)**

**GRAND THEFT**

**ROBBER **

******BODILY INJURY**  


"Oh come on Jet I've seen their faces a hundred times already." said Faye.

"It won't kill you to look again Faye!" shouted Jet.

"You're taking this too seriously, they're just a couple of hacker punks." said Faye.  
"We have to take this seriously Faye, you don't know what they're capable of… something could go wrong." said Jet.  
"I just want to get this over with quick and with no hassle."  
"Then stay focused on capturing them rather than how you're going to spend the money afterward."  
"Don't focus on the money? That's the whole point isn't it?"  
"Well then there's your first problem." said Jet with a smirk. He put his gun together and slid a clip into the bottom. Jet stood up from the yellow upholstered chair. "Come on let's go." he said.  
Faye stood up from the couch and grabbed her gun. "Finally." she said.

Spike walked down the stairs from the main bridge to the main room. He stood on the last step and stared at Faye and Jet as they headed toward the ship bay door.  
Jet and Faye stopped to turn and look at Spike. They all stayed silent for a moment.  
"There better be some food around here when you get back." said Spike with spite.  
"Just don't go wrecking the place." said Jet.  
"Yeah we all know how you get when you're bored." said Faye.  
"Yeah, whatever." said Spike.  
Jet flew off the runway in his Hammerhead and Faye followed suit in her Redtail. Spike stayed up in the main bridge as he watched the two ships set off into the sky.

* * *

It was the afternoon on Mars; Dodge was standing under a towering metal arch that supported the monorail above. He was wearing his civilian clothes that consisted of a pair of jeans, brown boots, and a tattered jacket. The metallic clanking sound of the train above whooshed by as Dodge shook the carton of cigarettes in his hand. He pulled out an exposed cigarette from the container and placed it between his lips. Another man with his hands inside of his jacket pockets approached Dodge from the sidewalk. Dodge leaned against the arch and extended out his hand to offer the man a cigarette. The man pulled one of his hands out from the pocket and took a cigarette from the carton. Dodge lit the cigarette in his own mouth then lit the man's cigarette. The man was a key enforcer of the Red Dragon syndicate named Taro.

Taro blew out a cloud of smoke and spoke. "Where the hell is everyone Dodge?" he asked.

Dodge held the cigarette between his fingers and drooped his arms down. He took a deep sigh and replied. "Your guess is as good as mine."

"It's been awhile, no one's said anything." said Taro.

"Lee hasn't told me anything so do you think any of your grunts are gonna know?" said Dodge in an exasperated tone.

"Geez Dodge, take it easy I just wanna see where everyone's been keeping themselves." said Taro.

"All Lee said was to lay low in the meantime so stop looking."

Taro rubbed the back of his neck and sighed. "This is idiotic, when we attacked Blue Snake Lee never mentioned that we were going to have to lay low and stop selling." he said.

"You aren't selling right?" asked Dodge.

"No way, the cops have been sniffing around us for information." said Taro.

"Good. Keep it that way until Lee gets us a way out of it." said Dodge.

"It can't wait, there are pounds of red-eye sitting inside of my apartment that I need to move or else I don't get paid!" said Taro angrily.

Dodge looked around and shushed Taro. "Are you crazy?! You don't know who's listening!" said Dodge.

"Look, just ask Lee to get this mess straight. ISSP wasn't all over us until we stuck our heads a little too far. Not even our guys in the inside can protect us right now." said Taro.

"Okay fine, I'll go see Lee about it. If you contact any of your guys tell them sit tight, I'm sure all of this is leading to something else that'll be worth the waiting." said Dodge. He threw his cigarette to the concrete and stomped his boot on it.

* * *

After Jet and Faye left, Spike was remained inside The Bebop. He was laying down on the couch with his eyes closed and his hands behind his head. He opened his eyes slowly and stared the whirring ceiling fan above. Spike sighed and sat up on the couch. He wiped his face and stood up. With boredom gnawing away at him he began searching through The Bebop.

Spike was up in the main bridge as he observed the navigation console. He opened a compartment on the side of it and rummaged through all the game pieces that were in there. He snatched one of the shogi pieces that were in there and observed it. Spike bit the piece to test its resiliency and it broke in two. He spit in disgust and wiped his mouth with his sleeve.

Spike was back downstairs on the couch again; his hand supported his head as he pondered for a second. He stood up and stretched. He walked toward the circle-shaped hallway. Spike poked his head into Faye's room looked inside. He saw the television and the beta-deck next to each other, but he decided to leave it alone. Then Spike poked his head into Jet's room; he saw the bonsai trees resting on the two-level table top. He sat down on the bench and curiously stared at the bonsai trees. Spike looked to his left and saw the pair of shears beside the trees. He picked it up and slid a bonsai tree toward himself. Spike carefully observed it and slowly moved in the shears to cut the tree. He cut once and a huge chunk of the bonsai tree fell off. Spike had a look of nervous guilt all over his face. He put the shears and the tree back into place and growled angrily. He stood up from the bench went into the ship bay hangar. Spike started up his Swordfish and blasted off the runway into the sky.

* * *

Jet and Faye were sitting at a table in the fisherman's market. The outdoor marketplace was bustling with people and stands selling all types of items and foods. Jet had his arms crossed on top of the table while staring straight ahead with his tech glasses on. The glasses mechanically whirred as it focused on a group of loitering hoodlums that were wrestling each other. The glasses tried to pick up on facial recognition as they moved about.

Faye leaned back in her chair with her hands on top of her head. She sighed with a hint of boredom. "So, are any of those our guys?" she asked.

Jet remained focused behind the glasses. "No I don't think so. But they should show up, those guys are a part of their crew." she said.

"Well I'm getting tired of waiting, I say we go look for them somewhere else." said Faye.

"This place is pretty big and there's a lot of people here what with all the cheap prices… we'll never find them in this mess." said Jet.

"Then let's do something other sitting around."

"What you got any ideas?"

"How about we go up to them and ask if they've seen them?"

"That'd totally be suspicious, they'd make a run for it."

"Well I don't mean ask just like that. They sell parts remember? Why don't you approach them for a deal or something and then ask for the bounties like you're old buddies or something."

"I don't know…"

"C'mon Jet its better than staring at some delinquents for a couple of hours." said Faye with a scowl.

Jet took the glasses off his face and put them away. "All right fine, but if they run it's on you." he said. Jet stood up from his chair and walked toward the crowds of people.

Faye scanned the area to make sure nothing dangerous was looming around. She stared at the people and the merchants selling seafood to customers facing the display shelves.

"You guys are going to blow your cover." said Spike.

Faye quickly turned to look at Spike and was shocked. "Spike! What the hell?!" she shouted.

"What?" asked Spike.

"What are you doing here? Jet told you to stay away!" said Faye.

"Jet's overreacting, nothing's gonna happen." said Spike.

"You're going to ruin this bounty Spike!"

"I'll just stand back and watch you two, there's no harm in that."

"You better stay put, you have a habit of causing trouble and that can go terribly wrong in crowded areas like this."

Spike put his hands in the air, imitating a surrendering pose. "All right Faye, like I said I'm just going to stand back." he said.

"All right, don't attract any attention to yourself." said Faye.

Suddenly someone started shouting and people were pushed out of the way. Faye and Spike turned to look with a confused expression. The crowds of people began separating and moving back as the group of hoodlums ran through them. One of the hoodlums began pushing tables and chairs down as Jet ran up to Spike and Faye.

"Jet what the hell did you say?!" asked Faye.

"All I asked for is parts!" growled Jet.

"You didn't ask it all formal did you?" asked Spike.

"Spike?! What the hell are you doing here?! Oh never mind, go before they get away!" shouted Jet.

Jet and Faye began running straight, to catch up with the gang. Spike went in a different direction, pushing through crowds of people.

The gang of hoodlums ran hurriedly out through the exit gate. There they turned to gather around two men that were lugging boxes of supplies. The men were the two bounties: Kaarlo Aldcroft and Durango Ponthiex. One of the hoodlums ran up to Durango and said "Yo, we gotta get out here!"

"What happened?" asked Durango.

"There's some cop looking for us!" said the hoodlum.

"Cop? How do you know?" asked Kaarlo.

"I don't know, he asked for parts but the way he looked made him suspicious." said the hoodlum.

"How did he look?" asked Durango.

"Old, grumpy… oh, y'know how cops have that look!" shouted the hoodlum.

There was crash from inside the fisherman's market. Durango and Kaarlo immediately dropped the supplies. Durango looked in multiple directions to see if the coast was clear. "C'mon let's go." he said. He waved his hand and moved forward.

Jet growled angrily as he rubbed his leg. He and Faye stopped for a moment inside of the fisherman's market.

"Watch where you're going next time Jet!" said Faye with hands on her hips.

"I was too busy watching where they were going!" shouted Jet.

"Well you're not doing a great job at it, we lost them!" shouted Faye.

Outside of the fisherman's market the gang made their way to a corner of the fisherman's market. They leaned on the metal-wire fence and waited for second. Durango shushed the gang as they panicked. He peeked around the corner and saw no one in the parking lot. He turned back around to his gang and said "Okay I don't see anyone there, let's make a run for it." They went around the corner only to see Spike standing in front of them. They all stood still as Spike stared back at them curiously.

"Whoa where's the fire?" asked Spike sarcastically.

"Uh… nowhere, we're just leaving." said Durango.

"What, leaving to go live on the lam?" said Spike with a smirk.

The gang stood back and with a shocked expression. "You a cop?!" shouted Kaarlo.

"Nope, but they'll deal with you two after I'm done." said Spike as he readied his fist.

"Oh shit guys, it's a bounty hunter!" shouted one of the hoodlums.

Durango swung at Spike as the gang and Kaarlo began to run away. Spike slapped Durango's fist out of the way and countered with an upper-cut to his face. Durango staggered back and shook his head. He growled angrily and rushed Spike; Spike tripped him and Durango rolled onto the floor. Durango stood up again and threw two punches at Spike's face and missed. Spike focused two sharp punches back to Durango's abdomen, stepped back and kicked his leg in. Durango slumped down from the kick and Spike elbowed downward onto his head. The blow sprung Durango back up, with his arms flailing; Spike, with a self-assured smirk, round-house kicked Durango onto the hard concrete. "C'mon you can make this easier if you just let me take you to the police right now." said Spike with a smirk. Durango groaned in pain and propped himself up onto his knees. He lifted up his shirt to expose a keyboard and device that hung off his belt. He started clicking away and a ship turned on in the parking lot. "Huh?" said Spike as he turned to stare at the ship when it elevated up into the air. The ship flew forward and came directly at Spike. "Whoa!" shouted Spike as he jumped out of the way. Durango approached the ship and climbed aboard into the seat. He closed the hatch with a smug grin and flew off. "Damn it!" said Spike as he began running. He reached to his Swordfish and opened up the hatch. He climbed inside and turned on the ship. The Swordfish blasted off and went in the same direction as Durango.

Inside the fisherman's market Kaarlo and the gang ran once again through crowds of people. Jet and Faye took notice and went after them. The gang kept on running pushing person after person until they were blocked by a supply truck that was dropping off fish. From behind Jet grappled Kaarlo and locked him in a choke-hold. The gang looked back to see Jet's metallic arm around Kaarlo's neck. "Oh crap that's the guy!" said one of the hoodlums as he pointed. The gang took out their guns and pointed them at Jet. "I didn't want to do this!" shouted one of the hoodlums as his finger was about to squeeze the trigger. There were two shots that rang out; none of them from the hoodlums' guns. They all turned their right when a fluorescent tube lamp snapped from the tent ceiling and swung right into them. The long, heavy lamp crashed and they all feel to the floor. Faye stood there with the smoking gun and a hand her hip.

"All right Faye, let's book this guy." said Jet as Kaarlo struggled.

"But where's the other one?" asked Faye. Suddenly a fast whooshing sound passed over them. Faye looked to see one ship flying away. Then another whooshing sound passed over and she saw Spike's Swordfish seizing the first one. "Damn it, Spike's going after him!" she exclaimed.

"Say what?!" shouted Jet.

Durango flew low, close to the sea. Spike brought the Swordfish down and soon both of them were striding across the water. The two ships avoided boats and fishing trawlers; Durango kicked the pedal up and the stolen ship flew up, avoiding a bridge that was above the water. Spike gazed up at the ship and continued on top of the sea. "Okay." said Spike as shrugged his shoulders. He twisted the handles of the Swordfish which zipped the ship forward under the bridge; then he kicked the pedal up and the Swordfish blasted into the air. Durango flew about thirty feet into the air and then he leveled the ship and soared straight. The Swordfish was flying straight toward Durango's ship; Durango tilted the ship to the left as Spike zoomed upward, missing the target.

Durango steered to the right and flew above an island of buildings. He maneuvered through skyscrapers and towers. Spike went after him gliding through the same skyscrapers. Durango put his ship on its side and flew through a narrow passage between two tall buildings. Spike almost entered in but it was too late; the Swordfish rolled and turned around, following the same direction of Durango's ship. Durango came out of the other end of the passage only to meet Spike's Swordfish coming around the corner of the building straight toward him. Durango made a hard left and went through the openings of a radio tower. Spike passed through the openings as well but the right wing of his Swordfish took damage as it hit the metal structure of the radio tower. Spike jerked forward in his seat and growled as he focused on Durango's space craft as they continued straight between skyscrapers. Durango's ship deployed a cable hook from its underside. He shot the cable at a bridge under construction and it latched on. He flew under the bridge and passed it; the cable reached its length and pulled down the bridge. The debris from the bridge plummeted on top of Spike's Swordfish. It banged the exterior of the ship and damaged it. Spike tilted and spun the Swordfish to knock off the debris. "That's it!" shouted Spike. The Swordfish boosted forward and reared behind Durango's ship. Spike used the Swordfish's left wing to bash the thruster of the ship. Durango's ship shook up and down; he flew downward and curved right. Spike curved right, tailing Durango once again as they both spiraled down. Durango shot the cable behind at the Swordfish and pierced the hull. "Excellent." said Spike with a smirk. Spike abruptly stopped the Swordfish and shot the machine gun at Durango's thrusters. Durango boosted forward, the cable met its length and pulled the hull off of the Swordfish and Durango's ship began to plummet down.

The two neared the end of the island to sea. Durango tried to land his ship but it crashed against the rocks at the edge of the concrete island. The ship was pushed back and forth with the current as Durango clumsily climbed out. Spike landed his Swordfish on the docks and climbed out. He ran after Durango who was stumbling onto a dock. Durango heaved and pushed onward onto the sidewalk near the docks. He slipped on a Ganymede rock lobster and fell onto the concrete. Spike stood above him with a smirk. Spike's radio began ringing in pocket; he took it out and answered it.

"Spike where the hell are you?!" barked Jet.

"Don't worry Jet, I got Durango for you guys." said Spike with a bright smile.

"What? You got him?! What happened?" asked Jet.

"Well you'll see for yourself…" said Spike nervously as he stared back at his wrecked Swordfish.

"Huh?" asked Jet.

"Umm, look why don't you and Faye meet me back at the ship? I'll explain later." said Spike.

"Fine, just get your ass back here before the police show up." said Jet.

"Okay." said Spike as he clicked the radio and hung up. He gazed at Jupiter that was so far away, feeling proud of what he had accomplished. It was a moment of bliss for Spike. Then he stared down curiously at the rock lobster and reminisced of the one he had left in the fridge a long time ago.

* * *

The sun was setting on Mars; Lee and Shiro were sitting inside a dingy and abandoned bar that was being used as a hideout. The two sat in wooden chairs with documents spread along a large desk. There were Red Dragon members that stood back against the windows, keeping lookout. Lee had his hand wrapped around his chin as he read a file. The pensive expression on his face made the room uninviting. Shiro sat across from Lee, but he had a more of a confused look on his face as he read through document after document. Someone tried to open the door; they shook the knob and hammered their fist on the door. Lee and Shiro turned their heads right away and stood out of their chairs with their weapons armed. The men that were standing back aimed their weapons as one of them unlocked the door with his gun ready. The man backed up and pointed his weapon at the entrance as the ancient door creaked open.

It was Dodge, with his hands in the air. "Hey! Watch it! It's me!" he shouted.

The men inside of the room breathed a sigh of relief and went back to their posts. Lee and Shiro put their guns back in the holsters. "Dodge, I told you to stay away." said Lee with a cold look.

Dodge closed the door behind him. "Sir, you have all of us ducking down while we wait for you to do something!" he said.

"We're working on it!" said Shiro.

"We can't last long with the police snooping around!" said Dodge.

"Dodge, leave." said Lee.

"C'mon Lee, throw us a bone here!" said Dodge.

"I said I would come to you… Now leave!" shouted Lee.

"This isn't right y'know! You never mentioned that once we attacked them we would have to lay low! We gotta make a living here!" shouted Dodge.

There were footsteps on the outside of the bar; shadows were casted on the windows. Everyone inside took notice, took out their weapons, and froze. Bullets began shattering the windows as Blue Snake members from the outside shot their assault rifles straight into the building. Most of the Red Dragon men at the windows were killed instantly while the others dropped and took cover. Lee kicked over the desk, dropping all of the papers onto the floor, and concealed himself behind it. Shiro took cover next to Lee behind the desk with his hands covering his head. Dodge was curled in a corner of the room as the gunfire continued. "Damn it Dodge you led them right to us!" shouted Shiro at the top of his lungs. The gunfire ceased and all of the men inside the bar stood up with their guns aimed. Lee grunted angrily and immediately ran outside the bar. As the Blue Snake members piled into their cars Lee began shooting his handgun at them. Dodge, Shiro, and the other Red Dragon members ran outside to back up Lee. The Blue Snake members began firing back as they went inside their cars and drove off. Some of the back windshields were destroyed but they left rather intact.

Shiro turned around to see another Blue Snake member pointing his assault rifle at them. "Get down!" he shouted as he drew his weapon. The men ducked out the way and Shiro began shooting but kept missing as the man moved out of the way.

Dodge drew his weapon and aimed it straight as the man tried to take cover behind a dumpster. He shot once and hit the man directly in the forehead. "Looks like you can't hit anything unless it's point-blank huh Shiro?" said Dodge with a smug look.

"It's your fault they were here in the first place!" said Shiro.

Then the Red Dragon members heard someone moaning in pain. They all turned around to see a wounded Blue Snake member writhing on the floor. "Well, well, well." said one of the Red Dragon men as he pointed his weapon.

Lee put his hand on the gun and forced it down. "No. Don't shoot. He's what I need." said Lee. He approached the wounded man and crouched beside him. "That's Lieutenant Lombardi?" said Lee with a wicked smile. He continued "Oh yes, I remember you quite well. Now tell me, what kind of men would leave their own lieutenant behind?"

Lombardi got on his stomach and began slithering away from Lee as he panted heavily. He didn't get very far as Lee kicked him over to his back. Lee crouched over him and grabbed him by the collar "No, no you're not leaving. You're going to give me what I need, understand?" said Lee.

"You're not gonna get anything out of me, you got that?! Kill me if you have to." shouted Lombardi.

"Ah, you certainly have the loyalty of dog." said Lee whimsically. Lee punched Lombardi across the face with a huge amount of force. The lieutenant passed out and Lee let him slump back to the floor. Lee stood up and motioned his hand. "Come get him, and bring him inside." he said. Two of the Red Dragon men came and lifted the lieutenant up from the floor. Lee began walking back as they dragged him toward the bar.

Shiro walked up to Lee. "Sir, do you really think he's going to be any help?" he asked.

"He's a highly ranked enforcer, but he has to know whose handling their business." said Lee.

"What's that going to help us with?" asked Shiro.

"If we plan to dissolve Blue Snake, then we need a way into their infrastructure. Those documents have names, addresses all over them. I'm positive this lieutenant has worked with these things before." said Lee.

Dodge walked up to Lee and Shiro as they all walked inside. "Hey Lee, what the hell are you gonna do to him?" asked Dodge.

"What do you think? I'm going to make him talk, you've seen me do it a thousand a times." said Lee.

"Talk about what?" asked Dodge.

"You wanted to know how long you and the other enforcers have to wait, well he's going to give us the answer." said Lee.

The two men put the table up and placed Lombardi on top of it. He grasped for air as he lay there unconsciously.

"Okay I need someone to board up these windows, it's going to be a long evening." said Lee with a menacing smile.


End file.
